Together They Will Rise
by Reese M
Summary: This is an Agent Reign or Agent Arias story set in the same world as Child of L. This story follows Sam and Alex as they start a relationship and everything that comes with that as well as the other adventures and misadventures life has in store for them.
1. Chapter 1

Traffic had become a nightmare on summer nights now that National City had a professional baseball team and fancy new stadium. It use to take Alex twenty maybe twenty-five minutes to drive from her apartment to Lena's penthouse on the nights that Lena hosted a hangout night. Now that there was so much congestion as people made their way to National City Stadium for the games it took Alex a good forty-five minutes to get to Lena's. She grumbled softly as she rested her head on her hand which was propped up on the window's edge while she waited for a herd of National City Comets fans to finish crossing the street. This was Lena's fault. She's the one who helped build the stadium and she's the one who bought a baseball team to bring to National City. Alex still wasn't convinced that Lena hadn't bought the team just because Kara mentioned she liked baseball because it had been something special she shared with Jeremiah.

Lena insisted it was an investment and an opportunity to improve National City.

While she somewhat patiently waited Alex tapped the fingers of her right hand against the steering wheel to the beat of Hurts So Good. Her head bobbed a little as well as she continued practicing. Glancing in her side mirror she watched herself form the words yet again. "Would you like to have dinner with me? Would, you like to have dinner with me? Would you like to have dinner, with me?"

Alex had been thinking about saying something for a couple of weeks now and after the close call she had that morning chasing down a rogue alien she figured tonight was as good as any other night to ask. She just really hoped she wasn't about to make things weird.

When she finally made it to Lena's building Alex managed to find parking close by and considered that cosmic payback for having to suffer through traffic. Stepping onto the sidewalk she spotted a familiar figure heading towards her from the opposite direction. Alex smiled and waved, "Hi Sam."

Sam would have returned the wave but her hands were full. She'd promised Lena she would pick up dessert so she was loaded down with cupcakes and cookies. "Hi Alex."

"Let me give you a hand." Alex said as she closed the distance between them.

"Thanks." Sam said warmly and then laughed. "I swear the bakeries I go to must wonder what I do with all the sweets I buy from them."

Alex laughed. "The first time I ordered Kara's mountain of potstickers the old lady behind the counter looked at me so weirdly I didn't go back for three months." When Alex realized that Sam was on her own she asked, "No Ruby?"

"Nope." Sam said with a shake of her head. "She's sleeping over at a friend's house. Apparently she decided it would be cooler to hang out with friends her own age. Crazy right?"

They both smiled at the doorman of Lena's building as he opened the door for them. He greeted them each by name. They both had codes to the elevator that would take them to Lena's secure private floor. When they arrived at Lena's front door it was Kara's beaming face that opened it and welcomed them in.

"Lena's putting Andrew to bed." She said as she closed the door behind them. Tilting her head in the way she did when she was listening to something out of normal earshot, she smiled apologetically. "Excuse me a moment. I need to find Bean. Wine's on the table."

Alex watched her sister speed off to find Andrew's missing stuffed animal. Smiling she walked over to where the wine was and picked up the bottle to examine the label. There was no three buck chuck when Lena hosted hangouts. This bottle alone would have cost five hundred dollars. Looking up and over at Sam who'd just come out of the kitchen where she'd put the desserts she brought Alex asked, "Wine?"

"Yes please." Sam said with a nod and a warm smile.

Was now a good time, Alex wondered as she poured wine into two of the stemless glasses Kara had set out. They were alone, but for how long? And what if she asked now and Sam said no? That would put a real wet blanket on the whole night for everyone. No. It was probably better if she waited. "So," Alex said as she held out a glass to Sam. "How's it feel to be back at L-Corp full time?"

"A little strange." Sam admitted. "Mostly because I'm getting a lot of sympathy for being sick when I wasn't really sick."

"Weren't you?" Alex said as they moved to sit together on Lena's heaven on earth of a sofa. "Reign was a virus, Sam. You had no more control over what it did with your body than someone with a biological infection that takes away their control has."

Sam sighed softly. "I know, but it's still weird to sit there and sort through get well wishes, and to smile at all the we're glad you're ok comments."

Alex reached over to take Sam's hand and squeeze it reassuringly. "That will all fade, you'll see. If nothing else it shows you that you're well liked there."

"I suppose that's a way to look at it." Sam smiled. Her dark eyes flicking down to where Alex held her hand and she smiled more.

A light blush colored Alex's cheeks at that smile. Taking her hand back she reached for one of the appetizers on the high tech coffee table. "I wonder what Lena has planned for the night."

"Dinner and a movie." Lena said as she and Kara came down the stairs.

Sam smiled as she stood to greet her friend with a hug. "Sounds like the perfect night after the week we've had."

"We ordered everyone's favorites from Bella Italia." Kara said as she crashed on the sofa beside her sister to snuggle.

As soon as Kara was beside her Alex wrapped her arms around her little sister and held her tight. It had been a busy week in all aspects of their lives. Kara was working on a joint article with Lois which she was hyper excited about. There had been a rise in underworld alien activity that kept Supergirl and Agent Danvers busy. Lena was in a battle of wills with Cat Grant who was less than thrilled with the idea of Lois Lane having a feature article in her former magazine. Lena was constantly reminding the woman that she no longer owned CatCo and Cat would counter with the fact that her name and reputation was still attached to it. And Sam was settling in to working at L-Corp full time once again, and as she'd mentioned having to deal with the fallout from the cover story for her absence.

Alex had also volunteered to help coach Ruby's softball team, Kara was spending more and more time with Lena and Andrew, and Sam was still dealing with what happened to her by seeing a friend of J'onn's name Kent Nelson. J'onn had reassured them that Dr. Nelson was a therapist with unique experience dealing with these types of issues. Sam was reluctant but Clark also vouched for him and Kara trusted Clark and Sam trusted Kara.

"So what movie are we watching?" Sam asked while looking between Lena who was reaching for a glass to pour herself some wine and the snuggling Danvers sisters. Now that she'd seen Alex as the badass Agent Danvers she savored seeing the softer side of Alex that much more. The way she was with Kara and the way she was with Ruby, it was one of the things that had first caught her eye.

"IT." Kara answered.

Sam paled a little.

Alex noticed. "Not a fan of scary movies, Sam?"

She wasn't but Sam wasn't going to admit that so instead she crinkled her nose and said, "I hate clowns."

Lena chuckled softly. "No one likes clowns."

"I don't mind clowns." Kara said with a shrug while extracting herself from Alex to lay claim to some potstickers. "Mimes are freaky though."

"Well at least it's better than the last movie." Alex added in. Clark had been in town and Kara had invited him to movie night. The rule was that whoever hosted got to pick the movie as reward for having everyone over and supplying most of the food and drink. Kara had hosted and transferred her host's choice to Clark. "I never thought in a million years I'd have to sit through a movie about typewriters."

"You didn't." Kara teased. "You fell asleep."

"At least it's not another superhero movie." Sam chimed in. "Winn always pick superhero movies, like we don't get enough of that in real life."

"Hey," Alex teased as she poked her sister in the ribs. "Maybe they'll make a movie about you someday."

Kara groaned. "I hope not. That couldn't be anything but cheesy."

"Maybe Supergirl would be a better television show." Lena teased.

Kara made a face and shook her head hard. "Not any better because it would just end up on the CW and we'd all be forced to date men, except for Alex, and then she'd be killed off just like Lexa."

"Still bitter I see." Alex chuckled. Kara huffed and pouted. Looking past her sister to the other two she said, "Kara use to write Clexa fix it fan fiction."

Kara gasped as she sat up and glared at Alex while hissing, "Traitor!"

Lena nearly missed the buzz of her phone, the sound being drowned out by Alex's cackle. The text was from her doorman letting her know her food delivery was here. She was going to go down and get it herself but Kara said she'd do it. She needed to get away from her sister's betrayal.

Alex was still laughing as she said, "Aww, Kara don't be mad. If it makes you feel better I'll tell them Winn writes AgentStucky fan fiction."

Kara just replied by leaving the penthouse in a huff.

During dinner they steered clear of more shipping talk in favor of less controversial topics. "So then he called Ms. Grant a witless harpy who wouldn't know real news from fake news if it her life depended on it, and that she wouldn't be so quick to make things up about him if she were getting laid by a real man." Kara shook her head and continued. "Ms. Grant's response was that if he was the example of a real man she'd rather have sex with an actual Cheeto. Then she sent Melania a Cheeto shaped dildo."

"She didn't!" Lena barked out a laugh.

Kara grimised. "Who do you think had to order it?"

"That could come back to bite her if the rumors are true about her running for office." Sam said after she'd stopped laughing.

When they settled in for the movie Kara and Lena had claimed the love seat, leaving the full sofa for Alex and Sam. When the movie first started there was a respectful distance but comfortable closeness between Sam and Alex. But as the movie played out that distance shark until Sam was sitting right up against Alex's side. Alex smiled warmly and gently whispered, "You ok, Sam?"

Sam jumped a little and then glared at Alex for making her. She whispered back, "I'm fine."

"Ok." Alex said as she put her arm around Sam.

During one of the scariest parts of the movie Sam couldn't muffle her scream soon enough and Alex found herself wrapped in a death grip as Sam tried to hide her face in the crook of her neck. Alex whized gently as she whispered, "Sam. Sam. Can't breath, hon."

Sam eased up and pulled back with wide eyes. "Oh! Alex I'm so sorry!"

Alex chuckled softly. "It's ok, it's fine, I'm used to it. Kara still forgets sometimes too." She gave the other woman a reassuring smile before saying, "At least you didn't use heat vision and blow a whole in Lena's tv."

"Yes, thanks for that." Lena called out from where she was cuddled up with Kara. "I just had it replaced because of heat vision."

"That was totally your fault!" Kara accused. "You're the one who couldn't wait for the portable red sun lamp to work."

"How was I expected to wait with you wearing nothing but my favorite purple silk shirt?" Lena replied. "It wasn't even completely buttoned!"

"Ok, that conversation needs to stop." Alex said as she pulled Sam close again. "Let's just finish the movie. It's a lot less disturbing than details about my baby sister's sex life."

The next time Sam jumped and hid her face in Alex's neck Alex whispered, "You know you're invulnerable now, clowns can't hurt you."

Sam relaxed a little and muttered, "Shut up."

The warmth of Sam's breath against her neck had Alex biting her lip and she was suddenly really glad that the lights were out, and trying really hard to forget that Kara and Sam had probably heard her heart skip that beat.

When the movie was over Kara and Sam decided they needed a palate cleanser so while they ate the cupcakes and cookies Sam brought they binge watched Steven Universe. Once everyone, mainly Sam and Kara, were feeling better Sam and Alex helped clean up. That's when Alex found herself once again alone with Sam in Lena's kitchen. Experiencing Sam and scary movies had just made Alex want to ask her out even more.

Do it now Danvers, she thought to herself as she held out a trash bag while Sam threw in aluminum bowls and white cardboard lids. "Hey Sam?"

The slightly taller woman looked up to meet Alex's eyes as she replied, "Hmm?"

"I was just wondering." Alex said nervously as she let go of the trash bag with one hand so she could rub the back of her neck. "And if you think it's a bad idea for whatever reason that's perfectly fine, but I was just kind of wondering if maybe, and I could be wrong about this, and if I am I'm so sorry, but well I thought maybe if I asked you might want to, so, um, would you maybe want to go out with me sometime, on like a date, together, with me, and you, just us, a date."

Sam looked surprised for half a second and then she smiled. That was the cutest thing she'd ever seen. The nervous rubbing of her neck, the way she twitched her left foot side to side as she rambled on, it was adorable. "I would like very much to go on a date with you, Alex."

Alex's eyes flew open as wide as was physically possible. "Really?"

Sam chuckled softly as she nodded her head. "Yes, Alex, really."

The laugh that bubbled up from Alex's throat was one of relief and excitement. "Dinner next week then?"

"Dinner next week." Sam said with a nod of agreement.

For the whole week Alex was on cloud nine. She was in such a good mood in fact that it scared Winn a little. When he expressed his concern she laughed it off and threw her arm around him to give him a one armed side hug. That's when he started asking about mind control. Kara eased his fears by telling him Alex was just excited about her date with Sam.

That excitement lasted until the day of that date with Sam. That's when panic set in. What was she going to wear? What were they going to talk about? What if she were wrong about the possibilities? If things went bad things could get really awkward. Kara was her sister, but she was also Sam's cousin. Sam and Lena were close and Lena was Kara's girlfriend. What if she blew this? What if this turned out to be another painful experience? What if they ended up hurting each other the way she and Maggie had?

Alex took several deep breaths and then wiped the condensation off the mirror in her bathroom to look at herself. "You won't make the same mistakes." She told her reflection. "You're not rushing into anything. You'll take your time. You'll talk and you'll listen." She continued. "You got this."

Alex wasn't the only one swimming against a river of emotions. Sam really like Alex and she hadn't really liked anyone in a very long time. She was full of the same doubts and had the same concerns, but she also had Ruby to worry about. Ruby adored Alex and if Sam messed this up Ruby would end up hurt too.

"No not those." Ruby said as she grabbed the pair of jeans Sam had pulled out of the closet.

Sam blinked. "Ruby."

"Those are mom jeans." Ruby said as she put them back on the shelf. She looked around for a bit and pulled out a different pair of jeans. "Skinny jeans are better."

"Better for what?" Sam asked with a raised brow and half a smirk.

"Impressing the girl by showing off what you got." Ruby answered while waving a finger at her mother's legs.

Sam's eyes went wide. "Ruby. Where on earth did you…"

"Mom." Ruby groaned. "No time."

Sam watched as Ruby rooted through her shirts and blouses and then finally shooed her daughter out of her room. "I can dress myself Rubes, thanks." And then just before she closed her bedroom door she added, "And you and me are having a long talk later."

When Sam finally came out of her room an hour later she was wearing the jeans Ruby had picked out with a really pretty purple tunic style blouse and calf high leather boots. She left her hair down and gone really simple with her makeup. The place they'd agreed to go to was a Japanese dango shop, which was like a little Japanese cafe, that had just opened up in the Asian sector of town.

Ruby smiled when her mom walked into the living room. "That'll do."

Sam rolled her eyes.

When Kara arrived she was much more supportive. "You look great, Sam."

"Thank you." Sam replied while shooting Ruby a look. Turning back to Kara she added, "And thank you for staying with my brat."

"I'm too old for a babysitter!" Ruby huffed from the living room couch.

"Then don't consider me a babysitter." Kara said as she sat beside the girl and flung her arm around her shoulder. "Just think of it as hanging out with your big cousin."

Alex had gone with a pair of black skinny jeans and a light sweater that was gray and slightly sparkly. She'd traded in her combat boots and sneakers for a pair of heels that caused Sam's attention to linger on her legs as she looked her over after opening the door. When their eyes met again Alex smiled. "You look great, Sam."

Sam smiled. "So do you."

"Ready to go?" Alex asked.

Sam nodded. "Let me grab my purse."

When Sam turned to walk back to where she'd left her purse she found Ruby and Kara standing there watching them with the biggest, dopiest grins on their faces. She rolled her eyes before giving them both a soft mom glare while pointing back towards the living room. "Go away you two."

"We just wanted to say hi to Alex." Ruby said happily and then waved at Alex. "Hi Alex!"

Alex laughed. "Hiya Rubes."

Sam narrowed her eyes a little but then sighed and snatched up her purse. Just as she reached Alex at the door she heard the swipe of a fingers across a screen followed by a tap. Just as she was turning to face the two brats again Kara snapped the picture. "Really?"

"What?" Kara said with a grin. "Lena demanded a picture since Andrew has a cold and couldn't come be here."

Sam rolled her eyes again.

Alex laughed. "It nice seeing someone else having to deal with her dorkiness."

Sam shook her head, warned the two to behave, and then followed Alex out to her car. To be honest Sam was grateful for the moment of silliness, it eased some of the tenison she'd been feeling and had helped her relax a little. Having Kara and Ruby to talk about made for easy conversation between her and Alex. They had both worried about that. Would they have things to talk about outside of the people they had in common? Neither wanted to spend the evening talking about past events either.

Once the familiar and comfortable topics of conversation were exhausted things did get a little awkward but once they'd been seated at a table in the corner of the dango shop things took a turn for the better.

Alex stared at the menu with wide eyes. "It's all in Japanese."

Sam smiled reassuringly. "There doesn't seem to be anything too scary on here and there are plenty of pictures."

"You read Japanese?" Alex asked, a little surprised and a lot impressed.

"Not fluently." Sam replied. "But well enough to use it when I have too. L-Corp does a lot of business in Japan. It was one of many pros when it came to me accepting the CFO position. I've always wanted to go to Japan, and travel is part of the job."

Alex smiled at that and then admitted. "I've always thought it would be cool to do a vending machine tour of Japan. I have fallen down the rabbit hole of YouTube videos on vending machines and food shops a number of times."

They ordered main dishes of kishimen which came with sekinan and hiyayakko and continued talking about places they'd like to travel or things they'd like to do, and their conversation became easier and more natural.

"I was actually a little shit to Kara at first." Alex admitted as she finished off her meal and poured more green tea for them both. "I'd been an only child all my life and then wham He shows up with this scared, lost, weird little kid and suddenly all of my parents attention and focus wasn't on me. It took us awhile to find our groove as sisters." Alex paused for a moment and said, "It's one of my biggest regrets, not letting it happen sooner than it did."

Sam reached out and put her hand on Alex's while smiling reassuringly at her. "What matters is what you have now, and you're an amazing sister, Alex."

They ordered so many of the sticky, sweet, rice balls that style of shop was known for that they were both convinced they would be sick later. They'd gotten one of almost everything and agreed to share. Sam watched with glee as Alex pulled a face at the ones she thought tasted weird, and Alex teased Sam for having to sniff everything before tasting it.

"Things weren't bad while I was growing up." Sam said softly while reaching for the skewer that had the mochi rice cake balls covered in an amber colored sticky sauce. "My parents were strict in that small town america kind of way, but they weren't bad parents. Things got bad between Patricia and me after my Dad died. He'd been a kind of quiet buffer between us for awhile, but he'd been a heavy smoker since he'd started working at fourteen, so..."

They'd moved on to mochi filled with fresh fruits and sweet beans, and black tea. Sam laughed when Alex admitted that she may not have hated Kara's obsession with the Spice Girls as much as she'd claimed too, and Alex was impressed by Sam's knowledge of classic rock bands. Alex got a mischievous look in her eyes when they talked about Sam hating horror movies, a look Sam shot down with a quick, soft, mom glare.

Once neither of them could eat another bite, which for Sam was saying something, they decided to have drinks. They didn't want to go to the alien bar so they left it up to Siri and ended up at a cocktail bar with some rather oddly named drinks.

"The sea runs red with their blood?" Sam read off the menu.

Alex laughed. "Until the light takes us, and Snatcher of the moon?"

"Well it would seem that we've gone from Japan to Scandinavia." Sam laughed. The bar was apparently themed modern vikings.

Despite the odd names the cocktails were really damn good, and the atmosphere was relaxed and warm and before they realized it Alex and Sam were sitting close and lost in conversation. Alex smiled when Sam reached out and put her hand on her arm as she spoke and was lost to the warmth that spread from where Sam touched her to the rest of her body. Sam quickly found herself wanting to make Alex smile that big warm smile she was finding really rather beautiful.

It was a bit after two in the morning when Alex walked Sam to the door of her house. She smiled as she admitted, "That was probably the best first date I've ever had."

"Me too." Sam admitted. "Guess that puts a lot of pressure on the second date, huh?"

Alex bit her lip as her eyes sparkled in the porch light. "Second date?"

Sam nodded. "If you want…"

"I'd like that." Alex said with a nod.

Sam sucked her bottom lip between her teeth before biting it nerously. "I'd really like to kiss you."

"Then kiss me." Alex replied with an even brighter smile.

Reaching out Sam cupped Alex's face in her hands and drew her close for a soft but lingering kiss. When they pulled apart Sam smiled brightly. "Goodnight Alex."

"Goodnight Sam." Alex replied happily.

Sam couldn't stop smiling as she made her way through her home and it only grew brighter as she covered her sleeping cousin with a throw, deciding to just let Kara continue sleeping on the sofa rather than waking her and sending her home, or when she went up to check on Ruby, or as she slipped into her own bed. Was this the start of something special? She wondered. She really hoped so.


	2. Chapter 2

Sitting behind her desk Sam tapped the nail of her index finger against the screen of her phone while she stared down at the gray and gold stock card Lena had just placed on her desk. Though it seemed as if her focus was on the invitation her mind was actually somewhere else all together. While she should have been thinking about the conversation she'd just had with her CEO, Sam was replaying the conversation she'd just had with one of her best friends. A conversation that centered around a certain redhead secret agent and how Lena couldn't say Alex's name without Sam smiling a little.

It had been a long time since Sam had felt anything for anyone. Her focus had always been Ruby first, and that meant making sure they had a comfortable, stable life. Relationships had always taken a back seat if they got a seat at all on Sam's sometimes rough ride through life. But her life was stable now, she had an amazing job, Ruby was older, and not including everything she was still working on when it came to finding out she was an alien, things were good in Sam's life. So it was natural to feel like now was a good time for something new.

Alex was amazing. She was smart, funny, tough but sweet. She was wonderful with Ruby. And she was incredibly beautiful. Their first date had been a huge success and they had made plans for a second. So why was Sam hesitating in calling her now?

She could practically hear Lena in her ear. "Suck it up, Arias. Call the woman." Sam snorted softly and told her best friend's imaginary voice to, "Shut it, Luthor. I'll call her in a second!"

Taking a deep breath Sam picked up her phone so the lock screen would recognize her face and then felt a smile tug at her lips. Her home screen picture was of Ruby wearing Alex's leather jacket, and Alex wearing Ruby's hoodie with the hood up. If she weren't falling for all of Alex's other attributes she'd fall for the woman simply based on how much she loved her kid. Tapping the contacts icon she highlighted Alex's name and then hit the little green call button. Her smile faulted a little when the first thing she heard wasn't Alex's voice but heavy panting. "Alex?"

A heartbeat of a second passed before she heard, "Sam?"

"Hi." Sam said as she sat forward in her chair a little. "Are you alright?"

"Fine." Alex replied. "Hold on a sec." There was a strange shuffling sound followed by an odd whirring sound, and then something that sounded like backing into metal trash cans. Then a heavy huff of a sigh and Alex's voice. "Hi Sam. What's up?"

Sam blinked. "Bad time?"

"Nope." Alex replied, her voice suddenly sounding rather cheerful .

"Ok." Sam replied with a bit of an uneasy chuckle. She took a moment to get her cool back and then said, "I know we've already made plans for a second date but how would you feel about a kind of in between date."

"An in between date?" Alex replied with a chuckle.

"So apparently there's this charity gala in Coast City hosted by Ferris Air." Sam began to explain as she picked up the invitation. "Lena and I have been invited and since L-Corp and CatCo both have business ties to Ferris Air we kind of have to go. Lena's taking Kara and I was kind of hoping maybe you'd agree to be my date?"

"Coast City huh?" Alex replied.

Sam nodded as if Alex could see her. "Lena's going to foot the bill as far as travel and hotel since it's a business expense. She even got excited by the idea of getting a shareable suite but I told her you probably wouldn't want to be that close to her and Kara in a hotel room."

That got the kind of deep warm laugh from Alex that made Sam's heart flutter like some stupid love sick teenager.

"It would only be for a night." Sam continued. "We'd fly the morning of and fly back the next afternoon."

Before Sam could continue Alex cut in and said, "I'd love to go with you."

Sam blinked in surprise and then smiled a huge smile. "We can talk details at game night."

"Sounds good." Alex said as she smiled like idiot. It was really rather embarrassing the way the sound of Sam's voice made her smile. "I'll see you Friday night at Kara's."

After saying goodbye Alex ended the call and put her phone back into the pocket of her cargo pants. It wouldn't hit her until later that she'd just agreed to an overnight trip with Sam, or that she would have to find something suitable to wear to a big fancy gala. Right now the only thing on her mind was getting to see Sam again and getting to see Sam in something suitable for a big fancy gala. When she finally turned her attention to the gray skinned horned alien she held down by pressing a combat boot into his chest and aiming her gun at his head she frowned as one of those pennies dropped. "Fuck. What am I gonna wear?"

"My god, Sam." Lena gasped when her friend came out of the dressing room. "That looks amazing on you."

Sam looked down at the white tailored to fit just right tuxedo pants and black silk blouse she had on. "You think so?"

"Put on the jacket." Lena said as her personal seamstress handed Sam the matching white fitted tuxedo jacket. Once Sam had the jacket on and a single button done up she nodded firmly. "It's perfect."

Sam stepped in front of the triple mirror to have a look at herself. She had to admit it did look good on her. With the heels she had on it really accentuated her long legs, and the cut of the jacket outlined her figure perfectly. She liked putting on a fancy dress and getting all glammed up once in awhile, but there was just something about wearing a suit sometimes that made her feel incredible.

Lena smirked as she asked, "Are you sure you want me to book separate rooms for you and Alex?"

"Lena." Sam said with a warning in her tone. "We've only been on one date. Neither one of us want to rush anything."

"What rush?" Lena asked. "You've known each other awhile now."

Sam gave her friend an 'are you kidding me' look as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Are you seriously giving me a hard time about the pace of my relationship? How long did you and Kara take to wake up and admit your feelings for each other?"

"To long." Lena admitted. "Which is what I want you to avoid. If Alex is what you want don't waste a single moment in making that happen."

Kara's phone buzzed beside her, stopping her as she slipped on a pair of midnight blue heels. Picking it up she smiled when she saw it was a text from Lena. "Lena says your dress should be black with white accents."

Alex blinked as she turned from the selection of dresses she'd picked out already. "What? Why?"

"She and Sam are at her favorite local designer's loft." Kara answered with a shrug. "I'm guessing she's trying to coordinate your looks."

With a quite huff Alex said, "Lena Luthor isn't the boss of me. I'm not the Danvers sister she has whipped."

"I'm not whipped!" Kara protested with a pout.

Alex laughed. "If you're not whipped why have all the dresses you've tried on been blue?"

"I happen to look good in blue." Kara argued.

Alex flicked her wrist and made a cracking sound. Kara threw a shoe at her sister, which Alex dodged easily before grabbing a black dress from her selection and disappearing into the dressing room. Kara smirked when she noticed.

"I'm really glad things seem to be going well with you and Sam." Kara said as she went back to trying on shoes. "It's nice to see you smile like that again."

"Smile like what?" Alex asked from behind the curtain.

Kara smiled as she said, "Like you're happy, like you're in love, like you're excited by the possibilities."

Catching her reflection in the mirror Alex caught sight of that smile. She was excited by the possibilities. As much as starting something with Sam scared her it was a good kind of scared. It was the kind of scared that let her know the payout of taking this risk would be amazing. It was the kind of scared that told her that she wanted there to be something special and meaningful because the fear came from maybe not getting what she wanted.

"You're ok with me and Sam dating aren't you, Kara?" Alex asked as she stepped out to get another dress.

"Of course I am." Kara replied. She'd slipped into the dressing room beside her sister's. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Alex sighed softly. "Because if it goes sideways things will get a little weird."

"Maybe at first." Kara's voice admitted. "But if things didn't work out, and I have no reason to think they won't, you and Sam will make sure it doesn't stay awkward or weird. You'll find a way to remain friends the way James and I did because I know you both love me, Ruby, and our friends."

When her baby sister stepped out of the dressing room Alex blinked. Kara was wearing a dark blue sequins evening gown with a high slit and it took Alex aback. It was hard for her to see Kara as the grown woman, the beautiful, elegant, confident grown woman she'd grown into. Though Alex was happy for Kara, happy that she'd found love and happiness with Lena, she ached for her dopey and awkward kid sister sometimes.

Kara frowned at the way Alex was looking at her. "What? You don't like it?"

"No." Alex said, hurrying to reassure her sister. "I mean, not no I don't like it, I do like it, it's just," She smiled softly. "You look amazing Kara."

Kara smiled warmly, relaxing at her sister's sincere compliment.

"Lena better realize how damn lucky she is to have you." Alex said firmly.

Kara walked over to hug her sister. "Sam's pretty lucky too."

The morning of the gala a black town car pulls into Sam's driveway. She meets the driver at the door and smiles her thanks as he takes her bags to put them in the trunk. Ruby would be staying at Lena's with Eliza and Andrew so she just had to make sure the house was settled before leaving. When they pulled up in front of Alex's building a short time later she felt her nerves kicking in. Asking Alex to go with her on an overnight trip seemed like a big step even if they weren't planning on anything intimate happening just yet. Traveling away from home with someone was huge, you got to see sides of them that they might not be ready to share with you just yet. You were spending time with them without the safety net of running home with a lame excuse about the babysitter.

"Hey." Alex said as she slipped into the car beside Sam.

Sam smiled while trying to drown the fluttering in her stomach. "Hi." Holding out a paper cup from Noonan's once Alex was settled she said, "I really appreciate this Alex."

Alex accepted the coffee gratefully. "I couldn't let you got stag to this thing any more than I could let you suffer being a third wheel with my sugar coated sister and her girlfriend. Those two are going to give the city diabetes." Sam laughed softly and Alex's smile grew. She liked the sound of Sam's laugh, and she liked being the one who caused it. "Besides, I'll always jump at the chance to spend time with you."

That made Sam blush.

The private plane with the L-Corp L on the tail was new. Stepping on board Sam smiled at the pilot who greeted them. "Good morning, Jay. New toy?"

The ginger haired man smiled. "Good morning Ms. Arias, and yes. This here is Ferris Air's newest 800 Series business jet. Second off the line and a dream to fly."

"Well it certainly looks like it'll be a comfortable flight." Sam said as she took in the passenger compartment. There was seating for six with two pairs of chairs facing each other with small tables between them, and two chairs that could recline. There was a small attendant galley and bathroom in the back, and a tv against the far wall.

After the pilot excused himself Sam and Alex made their way towards the four seats that were facing each other. It wasn't the first time Alex had been on a private plane but she was still pretty impressed. "Sometimes I forget Lena's a Luthor. Then I step onto a plane that's not even supposed to debut until next Spring and it hits me, oh yeah my sister's girlfriend is freaking loaded."

Sam laughed as she settled into one of the seats. "You know she'd take that as a complement. The part about forgetting she's a Luthor."

"I know." Alex said as she settled across from Sam. "How did we manage to beat them here?"

"Lena waits until the last moment to get on anything that flies." Sam said and then gave Alex a look that said, anything except Kara.

"Not funny!" Alex huffed.

Sam laughed. "I didn't say anything!"

"You were thinking it!" Alex huffed back.

"Thinking what?" Kara asked as she and Lena finally joined them.

Sam smirked. "About Lena's favorite way to fly."

Kara blushed and Lena laughed.

The flight between National City and Coast City would take just under two hours so the two couples settled in with mimosas and breakfasts picked up from Whole Foods by Colbie, Lena's personal flight attendant. They talked and laughed just like they would anytime the four of them were together. Sam and Alex would take turns stealing glances at the other and smiling softly. They could sense the subtle shift, the difference between four friends hanging out to two couples hanging out, and whenever they were caught looking by Kara or Lena they'd blush and look away quickly.

The hotel Lena booked them into was right on the water and each of their rooms had an incredible view. Lena and Kara would be sharing a suite, while Sam and Alex had their own rooms. Of course no one told Lena not to get adjoining rooms, just seperate rooms. Sam just shook her head as she dropped her garment bag on the bed and suitcase on the floor. Pulling out her phone she sent a text to Ruby to let her daughter know they'd gotten to the hotel safe and sound and then started putting her things away. She'd just manage to finish when Lena knocked on the door announcing they were spending the afternoon at the spa.

Body wraps and massages were followed by manicures, pedicures, and facials. More than once Alex found herself staring at Sam in her white fluffy robe. Sam was all legs and Alex could not stop her mind from drifting to images of running her hands up Sam's caves, over her knees, and then along her thighs, or the way it would feel to have one of those legs glide over her hips and wrap around her waist.

"Alex?" Kara called out.

Alex jumped a little and looked at her sister with wide eyes. "What?"

"Are you ok?" Kara asked with concern. "You're all flushed. Is the smell of the polish to strong?"

Alex blinked as she cleared her head and then shook it. "No, no, I'm fine, it's fine."

Sam watched Alex sink into her chair as far as she could with her toenails being painted. She caught Alex watching her as she'd moved from her own pedicure chair to the nail station. Ducking her head so Alex couldn't see her and be even further embarrassed she smirked. Alex wasn't the only one wondering what it would feel like to run hands over warm skin.

After they were finished at the spa they went their separate ways to finish getting ready for the evening. When they were ready to head out they would meet up in Lena and Kara's suite. Sam was the first to arrive wearing her fitted white tux that hugged all the right curves, and accented all of the right points of her figure. Her dark mahogany colored hair was down and curled into long loose spirals. She smiled warmly at Lena who wore a beautiful silver lace square neck gown, her black hair swept up in a lace braided bun with a few curled stands left down to frame her face. Then she laughed at Kara who was staring at her in awe. Kara had gone with the dark blue sequins dress with the slit and wore her hair down and completely straight.

"Wow." Kara finally said. "Sam, you look amazing. I wanna be you when I grow up."

"Thank you." Sam said with a warm smile and amused chuckle. "The two of you look great."

When Alex arrived it was Sam who was knocked breathless. Alex's dress was a 20s inspired black sequins dress that fell to her knees but looked longer because of the flapper inspired fringe that made her look like she'd just stepped out of the Great Gatsby. Her short red hair was done in finger waves and even her makeup seemed to follow the theme. When Sam was able to breath again she smiled a huge rapturous smile as she walked over to Alex. "You're beautiful."

Alex blushed, dimming the effect of glamor she was going for by nervously rubbing the back of her neck. Stepping into the suite and seeing Sam in her suit had sent her already buzzing arousal into hyperdrive. Sam, standing there in those please-dear-god-fuck-me heels, and fuck-shes-a-top-i'll-be-her-bottom white tux, had hit Alex like slamming into the most stunningly beautiful wall she'd ever seen. "You're a dream."

"A good one I hope." Sam said softly.

"One I wouldn't mind never waking from." Alex replied with a bright smile as they drifted closer together. In her heels Sam was slightly taller than Alex and she found that she didn't mind it at all, in fact she kind of liked it.

The gala was being held at the Coast City Museum of Women's History and would have guests from all over the world. A line of limos and other luxury cars stretched for blocks. For Coast CIty the annual Ferris gala was the main event of the year so the red carpet was crowded with reporters and photographers. CatCo, The Daily Planet, The Gotham Gazette, The Central City Citizen, The Star City Sentinel, were all there, not to mention Channel 52, and various other news and television outlets. A variety of questions were hurled at the two couples as they walked the red carpet, pausing from time to time to allow for pictures. Some were as mundane as who are you wearing, what's CatCo magazine's next cover, and what's L-Corp's next big project. Some were the obligatory questions about Supergirl given their ties to CatCo and National City. Some were aimed at Lena about Kara. A few were thrown at Sam about L-Corp and her resent returned, and about her health. Several asked who Alex was, and it was those that made Sam smile and draw the woman closer.

Alex was more than glad when they were finished with that particular nightmare.

"Sorry about that." Sam said softly as they made their way into the main hall.

"Do you have to do that often?" Alex asked.

Sam shook her head. "Not really. Lena's the face of the company, she's the one everyone wants to see."

"You both did wonderfully." Lena said proudly. "You two make a very striking couple. You'll be the talk of the social pages in the morning."

They made their way over to Lena's table and then mingled a little bit before dinner. Lena wanted to seek out Carol and introduce everyone. Like Lena, Carol Ferris was a young woman thrown into the hailstorm of running her family's company. She wanted Sam to meet her because L-Corp and Ferris Air did a lot of business together. She wanted Kara to meet her because she was hoping Kara could do a story on her. And she wanted Alex to meet her because Carol didn't just run her company from behind a desk. She could often be reached in the cockpit of one of her planes, and she figured Alex and Carol might hit it off in that respect.

They were in the middle of a conversation with a lovely woman named Etta, a friend of a friend of Clark's, after Carol had excused herself when Kara slightly stiffened. Lena noticed but couldn't respond right away. As soon as the four were alone Lena asked what was wrong but before Kara had a chance to say anything it was to late.

"Lena, I thought that was you." A voice called out as a beautiful statuesque woman with red hair approached them.

It wasn't the woman who'd spoken Lena's name that had everyone stunned but the woman on her arm.

Alex couldn't believe it. "Maggie."

Maggie smiled weakly. "Hiya Danvers. Little Danvers. Little Luthor. Sam."

"Oh." The redhead said softly. "I take it you're all acquainted already?"

"Yeah." Maggie said with a nod.

Lena stepped in, smiling at the tall woman. "It's good to see you again, Kate." She shook the woman's hand in greeting and then proceeded to introduce everyone. "Kara and Alex Danvers; Samantha Arias. Kate Kane."

"A pleasure." Kate said as she eyed Alex as if she knew who she was.

Sam slipped her hand into Alex's. Wither she was offering comfort or staking a claim however she wasn't quite sure. The last thing Sam had expected tonight was to come face to face with Alex's ex. The woman who'd broken the heart of one of the strongest women Sam had ever met. Sam suddenly felt a mix of emotion, uncertainty and anger and fear, which she tried to hide behind a charming smile as she nodded and said, "Yes, I am Lena's CFO." And, "I did see mention of a proposal from Kane Industries. I look forward to giving it my full attention as soon as it reaches me."

Alex was doing her best not stare at Maggie. A few years back Kara had talked her into doing this ice bucket challenge thing for charity, where Kara had dumped a bucket of ice water on her from the terrace at their mother's house. The painful shock of that cold icy water hitting her was just how she felt now seeing Maggie standing there in front of her after all this time. When she felt Sam's hand slip into her own Alex finally tore her gaze from Maggie to look into Sam's eyes. Eyes that reminded Alex of warm chocolate and suddenly that's all she felt was the warmth of Sam looking at her and smiling. She returned that smile and tightened her hand around Sam's.

"With Lena's vision I knew L-Corp was the right company to partner with on this project." Kate was saying when Sam returned her focus to the group. "Plus there's the bonus of annoying my cousin Bruce by working with a Luthor."

"Oh that's right." Lena said as she rubbed her thumb against Kara's hand to ease the tension in the blonde when Kate said her name that way. "You're cousin is Bruce Wayne. He and Lex were often rivals."

"Which may cloud his view on you, Lena." Kate said with a soft sigh. "Unfair as that maybe."

Lena shrugged it off. "I'm use to it and honestly after everything I've done if someone can't see the difference between me and L-Corp and Lex and Luthor Corp, screw them."

Kate laughed. "That a girl." She gave Lena a bright smile as she continued, "Thankfully the only rivalry there's ever been between you and I has been on the tennis court and with the ladies."

"Well, I would be more than happy to once again hand you your lovely ass on the tennis court, Kate." Lena replied, smiling charmingly. "But as fair as the ladies are concerned," Lena turned to look at Kara, her eyes bright with just how much she loved the blonde. "Even if I weren't already happily involved with the most beautiful woman here," She turned to look at Maggie and her expression hardened and her protectiveness shown through. "I would have no interest whatsoever in Ms. Sawyer."

"Ouch Little Luthor." Maggie replied.

"Lena." Alex said softly and shook her head. There was no need for anyone to protect her or be mean to Maggie. The breakup wasn't anyone's fault, they simply didn't want the same things in life. If there was blame to be had, then they should lay it at Alex's feet. She's the one who gave in to the euphoria following the Daxamite invasion and asked Maggie to marry her before they really had a chance to get to know each other, to get to know what they'd wanted in their lives.

Thankfully the conversation was interrupted by the announcement of dinner. They said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. As they made their way to their table Sam whispered, "Are you alright?"

Alex flashed her a smile and kissed her cheek. "I'm good, Sam."

Sam smiled and nodded. "Ok."

Dinner was followed by speeches and then drinks and dancing. Alex used a break in the dancing to use the restroom while Sam got them a couple of drinks to take back to the table. Sam was a pretty good dancer and Alex couldn't remember the last time she'd laughed so much while trying not to step on Sam's feet. She had a huge smile on her face as she came out of the restroom but that smile faulted little when she ran into Maggie. "Oh, sorry."

"No problem, Danvers." Maggie said with another weak smile. There was a long moment of awkwardness between them before Maggie said, "So, you and Sam huh?"

Alex nodded. "Yeah, me and Sam, it's new."

Maggie nodded. "Seems like you two really like each other."

"We do." Alex smiled, but again that smile faulted. Maggie nodded her head to acknowledge what she'd said but there was a look on her face, in her eyes, that didn't set well with Alex. She knew Maggie well enough to know that she wanted to say something so Alex said, "What?"

"It's not my place to say anything." Maggie said. "It's just that, damn Danvers, I don't want to see you get hurt again."

"Why would I get hurt?" Alex asked.

Maggie sighed and went for it like she always did. "Are you with Sam because you want to be with Sam or are you with Sam because of Ruby?"

Alex's face shifted between hurt and anger in half a second. "My being with Sam has nothing to do with Ruby." How could Maggie even think that? Think that the only reason she would be with someone, anyone, was because of their kid? "You've been out of the loop since you ran to Gotham so let me update you. Sam and Kara are cousins, which means I can have Ruby in my life even if I weren't dating her mother. I can't believe you would actually think that of me, Maggie." There was hurt in Alex's voice but that was soon replaced with a certainty that surprised even herself. "I think Sam is amazing. She's strong, smart, brave, and funny. She's survived hell and yet she's still one of the kindest, most caring people I've ever known. I'm with Sam because I think her smile is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen, and her laugh makes me happy, and because I love the way she teases Kara. I'm with Sam because I feel excited by the idea of getting to know her, and explore this thing between us. I'm with Sam because of Sam."

"Wow, Alex, I'm sorry, I didn't mean…" Maggie began.

"Alex?" Sam called out.

Alex turned her head to see Sam standing at the end of the hall. She smiled at her and Sam began walking towards her. "Hey you."

"Is everything alright?" Sam asked as she came to stand beside Alex.

Maggie smiled, an actual smile this time. "Yeah, Sam. Everything's fine. I should go find Kate." She turned to leave and then paused and said, "I'm really happy for you two."

Once they were alone in the hallway Sam reached for Alex and kissed her hard.

Alex was taken off guard by the kiss at first but quickly melted into it. When it ended she chuckled softly and said, "Wow, what was that for?"

"I heard what you said." Sam admitted. "I wasn't eavesdropping, I promise. Kara said that the best way to ride out sensory overload is to focus on one familiar sound."

Alex smiled at that. "My voice?"

Sam nodded.

Knowing Sam had used the sound of her voice to help when her super hearing was overwhelming her made Alex feel warm inside. Then she felt panic. "Sam." She said as she looked into Sam's eyes. "You know what I said is true don't you? About Ruby? You never thought that did you?"

"Not once." Sam reassured. "You're not the type of person to use someone like that Alex."

Alex relaxed. She sighed softly and leaned into Sam. Sam smiled and wrapped her arms around Alex's wasit. Alex reached up and wrapped her arms around Sam's neck. They stood there just holding each other for a long time before Alex said, "Do you want to get out of here?" She looked into Sam's eyes and a herd of wild butterflies let loose in her stomach. "Maybe go back to the hotel and open the adjoining door between our rooms?"

Sam's smile was blinding and her laugh full of promise. "I'd love too."


	3. Chapter 3

Some aliens were good, some aliens were bad, and some aliens were just freaking gross. They had spent the day chasing after an alien thief who'd stolen thousands of dollars worth of precious gems, not to get rich of off mind you, but because he liked to eat them. When Alex and Supergirl finally caught up to him he proved to be quite the brawler but it was his defense mechanism that had left its mark on Alex. Walking into the DEO Alex grumbled and bitched because Kara looked as fresh and clean as a daisy while Alex was covered head to toe in neon pink goo.

Winn grimaced at the sight of her. "Eww, what is that? It's like some weird cross between Nickelodeon slime and silly string."

Alex roughly pushed the alien thief towards two other agents. "It's gross is what it is. I'm taking a shower."

"After we get samples, Agent Danvers." J'onn said from where he stood in the center of the command center.

"Yeah, Alex, it might make you sick." Kara added.

"How is it he didn't get any on you?" Alex growled at her sister.

Kara smiled at her. "Super speed and super reflexes."

"I hate you." Alex grumbled before making her way to the medlab to let someone collect samples of the goo. Then she went to the locker room to dispose of her clothes and slip under the hot spray of the showers. Her day had started off so well. She'd awoken in the arms of her girlfriend, warm and comfortable in Sam's bed. When her alarm had gone off Sam had tightened her hold on Alex using her Kryptonian strength to her advantage to keep Alex from pulling out of her arms. Since taking their relationship to the intimate stage Alex had discovered that Sam liked being the big spoon and she was more than ok with that, accept for the handful of times when she'd needed to pee and Sam's hold was a little too hard to get out of.

Both women would have gladly stayed in bed all morning but jobs needed to be gotten too and a teenage daughter needed to be sent off to school. They'd had breakfast together, Alex, Sam and Ruby, and Alex had loved every moment of it. Listening to Sam remind Ruby to take her science project with her, and Ruby reminding Sam she needed money for her ticket to the amusement park next week.

"You're still chaperoning, right?" Ruby had asked her.

Alex had nodded and smiled at the girl while ruffling her hair. "Of course, Rubes. I promised didn't it?"

Ruby had smiled at her and Alex felt warmth in the pit of her stomach. When she'd looked over at Sam, Sam had been looking at her in a way that made that warmth explode and spread throughout her body. She had come into work in such a good mood. Now she was covered in alien goo that didn't seem to want to wash out of her hair.

Sam was in her office sitting behind her desk working on the annual budgets for the science department when she heard the commotion in the lobby. Glass shattering and hitting the floor, the crunch of someone walking over it, the shouts of security guards, and the screams of scared people. She didn't think, she didn't hesitate, she ran for the lobby to see what was going on.

"Betrayer!" The dark skinned woman yelled as she stood in the middle of the open space. "Where is the Betrayer!" People were trying to get out of her way. She watched them, her head tilted. She advanced on one."Where is the Betrayer, human?"

Jess squeaked, her eyes wide.

"Hey!" Sam yelled, getting the woman's attention. "You got an issue lady? Take it up with me. Leave my employees alone." Now that the attacker's attention was her Sam called out, "Get out of here, Jess! Run! Get everyone out of the building!"

There was a look of confusion on the dark skinned woman's face as she stared at Sam. She tilted her head back and forth like a dog trying to figure out what it was hearing. Sam used that confusion to try and clear out as many people as possible.

"Ms. Arias!" Jess called out from near the door.

"Go Jess!" Sam yelled at the woman. "Just go! Get out of here! I'm right behind you!"

As long as there were people around Sam couldn't use her powers. She had to help as best she could without them, not that she had any idea how to actually go about using them. She hadn't really used her powers much since returning to National City after her little soul searching trek around the country. There were still to many people around when the dark skin woman suddenly advanced on Sam, grabbing her by the throat. She looked into Sam's eyes and Sam shivered as a sudden cold fear washed through her.

The dark skinned woman got right in Sam's faced and hissed, "Betrayer."

The fact that the grip on her throat hurt let Sam know this woman wasn't human. Her fight or flight kicked in and Sam being Sam chose fight. Using her super strength she head butted the woman, making her stagger back and let go of her throat. Sam reached up to rub at her throat as she spoke, her voice raspy. "Who, who are you?"

"I would have been yours to rule, to command." The woman said as she once again advance on Sam. "But you betrayed us, you abandon us, you abandon our purpose!"

The woman charged at her with such force they went flying into a wall, crushing right through it. Sam hit the floor with the woman on top of her. She watched as the woman drew back a fist and quickly rolled out from under her, flying back out of her reach. The woman advanced, throwing punches that Sam blocked, surprising herself. But then she was hit with a memory, fuzzy, grainy like an old movie. One of Reign's fights against Supergirl. It distracted Sam long enough for the woman to grab hold of her by the throat again and throw her across the room. The woman charged at her, picked her up and slammed her down again. Sam moaned, the air knocked out of her.

"I will purify this world." The woman said to Sam. "I will wash away it's sins. And I will start with you, Reign, our Betrayer!"

Sam couldn't breathe as she was held aloft by her throat.

"Bitch get your damn hands off my girlfriend!" Alex yelled before shooting the woman with her favorite alien gun, which she'd named Ripley.

The force was enough to free Sam from the woman's grasp. That's when Supergirl flew at the woman, tackling her straight threw the wall and out the side of the building. With a strong hold on her Supergirl flew straight up and away from downtown.

"You will not stop me." The woman said just before breaking free of Supergirl's hold and falling straight to the ground. Supergirl flew after her and was surprised when the women hit the pavement, creating a small crater, but then just stood up and lept towards her, pulling her back to the ground.

"Who are you?" Supergirl asked. "What did you want with Samantha Arias?"

"I am Purity." The woman said. "I will purify this world and I will punish she who betrayed us."

Supergirl recognized the way the woman spoke, her blue eyes going wide. "You're like her, like Reign, a weapon."

"Are you ok, Sam?" Alex asked as she helped Sam get to her feet.

Sam nodded but held onto Alex until she felt a little more steady. "I'm fine, babe. I'm alright."

Alex reached up with wide eyes and a shaking hand. "Sam." She said softly. "You're bleeding."

"It's nothing." Sam said as she tried to bat Alex's hand away.

"You're Kryptonian." Alex whispered. "You bleeding is not nothing. Come on. Let's get you to the DEO."

She really had been fine. She'd barely needed five minutes under the sun lamps before the cut over her eye and the bruises at her throat were healed. Leaving the medbay Sam made her way to where the others were. She listened as the obvious questions were asked. Who was the woman? What did she want with Sam? She'd called her Reign. That twisted in Sam's stomach. It had been months since Reign was purged from Sam's system. She was finally starting to feel normal again. She was finally starting to feel like she had a grip on her life again.

"Her name is Purity." Supergirl said as she landed after flying in through the balcony. "She's a world killer, but she isn't Kryptonian."

"How do you know that?" Alex asked from where she stood beside J'onn.

Supergirl held out her fist. "We don't bleed purple."

Alex acted quickly to gather the sample Kara was providing them. "What makes you think she's a world killer?"

"The way she spoke." Kara told them. "The things she kept saying, it was the same rhetoric Sam would say when Reign was in control."

"Great, just great." Winn said as he threw his hands up in the air. "Time to get our asses handed to us again." Everyone turned to look at him with hard glares. "What? Oh come on! Sam kicked Kara's ass and we all know it."

Sam raised an eyebrow and smirked as she leaned against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest.

"The only reason we defeated Reign is because Sam was stronger than the programming." Winn continued despite the glares. "If Reign hadn't tried to kill Ruby we might still be fighting against Sam, and now we'd have two of them to deal with."

"I don't think this one is as strong as Reign." Kara said. "She couldn't fly, and she didn't hit as hard during our fight just now. So I think her powerset might be different. I also think Reign was meant to be the leader. Her lackies wouldn't be as strong as her. Non wanted an army to take control of Krypton. He wouldn't have made non-Kryptonians stronger than his greatest weapon."

"Small mercy." Winn grumbled.

Sam tensed up hearing Kara talk about her father. She was still working through the way she felt about her birth parents. It was easier with her mother. Probably because of the way Kara talked about Astra. She could see the image of the good woman twisted the wrong way by her grief and outside forces. It was her father, that outside force, that Sam hadn't even touched yet. The man had turned his own child into a weapon to use against his own people. He'd caused his wife unspeakable pain and then twisted that pain until she was almost as bad as he was. Almost. If only she'd had the chance, Kara would tell her, Astra could have been redeemed I know it.

"Sam." Alex said when she spotted her girlfriend leaning against the wall. She frowned at the other woman. "Why aren't you under the sun lamps?"

Sam smiled warmly. Though she was just starting to realize she might want to deal with the fact that she was in love with the woman who killed her mother. Sam blinked. In love with? Yeap, that's what that was. "I'm fine, Alex. I told you it was nothing."

This time when Alex came over to look Sam over the other woman didn't try to bat her hands away. Seeing Sam bleed had been as bad as seeing Kara bleed. It had hit Alex like a white hot spike to the stomach. When she looked into Sam's eyes Sam smiled warmly at her as if saying I told you I was fine. Alex relaxed for maybe two seconds.

"Sam's on our side this time!" Winn said, suddenly shaking off the doom and gloom he'd felt before. "Oh we got this!"

"Absolutely not." Kara said firmly, protectively. "Sam made her choice, she doesn't want to put on a cape and fight, and we're going to respect that."

"But she can…"

Kara shot Winn a glare. "No. I will not force Sam to fight."

Sam walked over and put her hand on Kara's shoulder. "You wouldn't be forcing me, cousin."

"Sam." Kara said softly as she looked into her cousin's warm brown eyes.. "You don't have…"

"I do have too." Sam said firmly. "If this Purity is a world killer, if she is connected to Reign, then she's my responsibly." When she saw Kara was about to say it wasn't she shook her head to stop her. "Non helped that dark cult create those monsters. I want to help dystory them."

Kara was quiet for a moment. She could understand why Sam wanted to help fight the world killers. She'd felt the same burdon when she'd found out her father had created Myriad. "You haven't really used your powers since we got you back, Sam."

Sam smiled. "I know. I seem to have some muscle memory, but that won't do, so I guess you'll have to train me."

"You're sure about this?" Kara asked.

"I'm sure." Sam nodded.

"Ok." Kara said with a smile.

For the rest of the day Kara and Sam worked out in the gym built for Kara. When Kara spared with her they had to dampen Kara's powers, but they didn't have to do that with Sam and Alex could see a hint of pleasure on Kara's face. She could see that her sister liked having someone she could go toe to toe with and not have to hold back. She could also see that Kara had been listening to all the lessons Alex had given her over the years, and that made Alex swell with pride.

"We can't always rely on our strength." Kara told Sam as they circled each other on the mat. "Our strength can be used against us, but that means that our opponents can be used against them too."

It was also clear to Alex that Kara had picked up some lessons from other sources as well. The way she was more willing to use objects in her environment as weapons rather than simply punching something or using heat vision seemed to have a very Sara Lance vibe to it. And the way she used her super speed more was clearly Barry's influence. Alex couldn't help but smile. She was incredibly proud of her sister and how much Kara had grown since her first year in the cape.

"If you two are finished playing Jedi with the training spheres Winn and I have something to show Sam." Lena said as she walked into the room.

"We weren't playing Jedi, Lee." Kara huffed at her girlfriend.

"Kara, my love, even without super hearing I could hear you making lightsaber noises every time you used your heat vision." Lena replied.

Alex snorted.

Kara huffed but then said, "That's enough for now anyway. We're still tracking where Purity went to lick her wounds after our fight so there's no need to try and cram it all into a few hours."

As the four of them made their way to Lena's lab Alex looked over at her girlfriend as they walked side by side and asked, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Alex." Sam reassured. "Stop hovering."

"I'm not hovering!" Alex argued. "I don't hover!"

Kara snorted. "You totally hover."

Alex huffed at her sister. "No one asked you."

When they walked into the lab Winn was standing by what was clearly a super suit. It was a full body suit, primarily black with red and blue accents along the ribs, at the hips, and at the knees. The forearm gauntlets, shoulder plates, and boots looked like armor, and there was a kind of strap or sash across the chest that attached to the cape.

Sam gasped at the sight of it. "You made me a suit?"

"I've known you a long time, Sam." Lena said softly. "I knew that it was an inevitability that you would choose to help even if it's only from time to time." She smiled as she watched Sam walk up to the suit and run her hand over it. "What do you think?"

"I like it, Lena." Sam said with a warm smile. "It's great. There's just one thing, though."

"What?" Lena asked with a frown.

Sam ran her fingers over the S shield at right shoulder of the suit. "I'm not a Super, and I'm not an El. I can't wear this."

Lena smiled at that. She looked at Winn and said, "I told you so." Then she walked over to where she'd had the suit hidden in a slide out chamber much like the one she was building in her closet at home for Kara's suit. Pulling out another shield shaped buckle she took it over to the suit. Lena removed the House of El S and replaced it with the House of Z circles. "Hows this?"

"Perfect." Sam said softly as she reached out to trace the larger circle, then the small one under it, and then line that went through that.

"Try it on." Winn said excitedly and then launched into a lot of tech talk about what he and Lena had come up with for the suit.

Kara cut him off in her own excitement. "Yeah Sam! Try it on and we'll go flying!"

"Ok. Ok." Sam said with a chuckle. No one moved. "I'll try it on but unless we've seen each other naked in the last twenty four hours get out."

Alex smirked and hopped up on a table.

Everyone else left the room.

"Need any help?" Alex asked from where she sat watching with a smirk.

Sam laughed. "If you helped I'd never get it on."

She hesitated at first. She hadn't had something like this on her body since Reign. She didn't even really remember wearing a suit like this before. Placing her hand over the crest again she asked, "Do you think Kara's right about my mother? Do you think that after everything she'd done she still had good in her?"

Alex slid off the table and walked over to stand behind her girlfriend. "Under the anger, the grief, the fear, and the pain was a woman who loved her family. I know there was good in her because I could see it when she looked at Kara. I know there was good in her because I can see it in you."

Alex had her arms around her and Sam couldn't help but lean against her. "When I first went to the desert and spoke with the hologram of the dark priestess I remember thinking, I'm like Supergirl? I'm a hero? But then Reign took control and I became the villain. Then when I woke up everyone kept telling me that it wasn't me, that what Reign did wasn't on me, but that I was the lost daughter of terrorists."

"Sam." Alex said softly. "Your first instinct when you found out you had powers was to be a hero. That says a lot. You've already shown that you can use them for good. You helped a lot of people while you were away." She hugged Sam tight. "You have so much good in you, so much love, and compassion, that Winn's right, you defeated Reign."

Sam turned in Alex's arms to kiss her. Then before Alex could even open her eyes after the kiss ended Sam was in her new suit. "So," She said when Alex opened her eyes to find her standing there. "What do you think?"

"I think your amazing." Alex answered with the biggest of smiles. "And that you're going to need a mask, unless you want to start wearing glasses."

Standing in the AI room where Alura's hologram was kept Sam took a deep breath. She and Kara had been trained for days while they waited on Purity to resurface, and as Sam got more and more comfortable with her powers and the idea of her new role, she realized she needed to make a final decided on something. Sam called out her aunt's name and when the hologram appeared it smiled at her, greeted her by name and asked, "What is it I can do for you, niece?"

Sam took another deep breath. "I know you and Astra were twins but," She paused, took another breath and asked, "Can you show me my mother?"

"They were beautiful weren't they." Kara said softly as she joined her cousin a while later. Sam had asked if she could use the room and Kara had said of course. She told Sam she didn't have to ask, that she was welcome to use it whenever she wanted.

"I like the stripe in her hair." Sam said with a soft careful smile.

Kara smiled. "I always did too." She stood there beside her cousin silently for a few moments. The daughters of Alura and Astra In-Ze finally together just as their mothers had always dreamed. Then she pulled something out of her boot and handed it to Sam. "This belonged to Astra." It was the spy beacon her aunt had given her when she was a little girl. "We each had one. They were sort of our version of the signal watches. Whenever I needed her I would activate mine and she would come." She looked at Sam and smiled. "I think if things had been different you and I would have used these a lot growing up."

Sam took the circle device and smiled as she ran her thumb over it. "Thank you, Kara." She said softly before turning her attention back to the hologram of her mother. "I've been thinking a lot the last few days about something and I wanted to ask you what you thought about what I've decided."

"Decided about what?" Kara asked. "Are you having second thoughts about fighting Purity? Because I'd understand if you were."

Sam shook her head. "No, no I haven't changed my mind about that. I'm still going to fight her with you, Kara. But I can't exactly go out there with Supergirl wearing my new super suit and have everyone calling me Sam, now can I?'

Kara's eyes went a little wide and a huge grin bloomed on her lips. "You've chosen a name?"

"Yes." Sam said with a nod. "But only if you're ok with it."

The monitors sounded the alarm. Purity had resurfaced. Winn pinpointed her location. "She's attacking people on the subway."

"That has the potential to do a lot of infrastructural damage to the city." Lena told them. "L-Corp has been trying to help upgrade and update the transit tunnels but there are still miles and miles of old networks that are still in use."

"But there are also abandoned tunnels." Sam said. "Ones we've closed off because they're just too far gone. We might be able to use those to trap her, make taking her down a little easier."

Kara beamed at her cousin before nodding towards the balcony "Sounds like a good start to a plan. Are you ready?"

Sam nodded. "As I'll ever be."

"Then let's go, Astra." Supergirl said proudly. "Time to show the world what the daughters of the House of Ze can do."

Chasing after Reign had been more important than whatever else Purity was doing so it was easy to get her to follow Supergirl and Astra into the old abandoned tunnels. The damage that would come from a super fight would be contained and no bystanders would be hurt, hopefully. The ground above them shook every time a body slammed into a wall, or when Purity let out what seemed to be some kind of sonic scream.

"I have a friend," Kara said as she got to her feet after being thrown into a wall by that scream. "That has that power trademarked. I'm pretty sure Laurel could sue you."

Purity ranted about weakness until Sam blasted her with heat vision and then groaned. "Is that really what I sounded like?"

"You were actually worse." Kara teased.

Taking up positions at each end of the tunnel with Purity in the middle Supergirl and Astra had the same idea at the same time. They each nodded at each other and then as one clapped, sending shockwaves at Purity that would slam into her like two super speeding wrecking balls. Of course the force of that blast also shook the walls around them, which were already weak and crumbling.

Alex watched in horror as dust and debris wafted out of the old subway tunnel entrance. They had felt the ground beneath them rumble and quake, they'd heard the sounds of collapse from inside the tunnel. Her heart stopped, her blood ran cold, and her body shook as she reached for the earwig in her ear. "Supergirl? Astra?" She called out their names. "Supergirl!? Astra!?"

There was another rumble a few moments before the ground a few feet away exploded, sending rocks, dirt, and other debris shooting everywhere. The DEO team barely had time to protect themselves from it. Then Supergirl came flying out of the hole left behind, followed seconds after by Astra who carried a defeated Purity in her arms.

"Secure the combatant!" Alex ordered as she rushed towards the two Kryptonian heroes. "Are you two alright?"

"We could both use a shower." Sam said as she handed Purity over to the agents. "I can feel the grit in my hair. Ew."

Kara laughed as she slung her arm around Sam's shoulder. "Well, at least it's not pink alien vomit."

Alex relaxed, her heart slowing to normal and she smiled. "Nicely done you two."

"We're a good team." Kara said with a nod.

"Yeah." Sam said as she looked between her girlfriend and her cousin. "Yeah, we are."

"Hey!" Lena's voice cut in over the earwig. "Stop having a moment without me!"

* * *

Once again I want to give credit where credit is due. Sam's look as Astra is inspired by the amazingly phenomenal art work by Plastic-Pipes over on Tumblr and DeviantArt. Please go show some love, enjoy, and to get a really sense of what I so poor tried to put into words.

~Reese


	4. Chapter 4

The baby blue classic car pulled into Sam's driveway right at eight o'clock. Alex had the biggest smile on her face as she got out of the car and headed towards the front door. She'd finally taken some of her vacation time and was going to spend that time with Sam and Ruby. They were going to drive down the coast to spend a couple of peaceful days in a rented beach house. She and Sam had started making the plans after Sam had seen a picture of Kara's loft when it use to be Alex's loft.

"Is that a surfboard in the corner?" Sam had asked as she looked at the old picture she'd pulled from a box of old pictures Alex had left out on her coffee table.

Alex nodded. "I learned how when I was a kid. Even competed a little. I loved it." Alex laughed softly at a sudden memory. "I tried to teach Kara once because her favorite Disney movie is Lilo and Stitch and she'd asked me to teach her. She kept falling off the board. She was really terrible at it."

"Maybe you could teach me sometime." Sam said with a smile.

And so they started planning. They worked out the dates with both their jobs, and Alex got plenty of reassurance from J'onn, Winn, and Kara that the DEO would not fall apart without her for a few days. J'onn even volunteered the use of his beloved carship because he was just glad Alex was actually going to take time off. They spent an entire evening with wine and takeout looking online for the perfect place to rent. And when they'd told Ruby, the girl had given Kara's level of excitement a run for its money.

"Lets go lets go lets go!" Ruby shouted as soon as Sam's front door swung open. "Mom come on! Hi Alex!"

Alex laughed. "Hiya kiddo."

"Whoa!" Ruby said at the sight of the car. "Is that what we're going in?"

"Yeap." Alex said brightly as she stepped up onto the front step.

"Shotgun!" Ruby yelled as she darted out towards the car.

"Not a chance Ruby!" Sam called from within the house. "Come back here and get your bags! I'm not your butler, little girl!"

Alex laughed as she walked into the house. "You'd look really cute in the suit though."

Sam smiled from where she stood in the kitchen. She was packing the last of the food into the cooler she'd put together for the road trip. "That's hardly a bias opinion." Sam said as she smirked at Alex. "You like me in pant suits."

"I do." Alex nodded before kissing Sam hello. Yes, Alex did turn into a sticky puddle of lesbian goo with no higher brain function whenever Sam wore one of her pant suits, but she also found it hard to take her eyes off the woman when she wore something as simple as denim capris and a white tank top. "Ready to go?"

"Yeap." Sam said after looking around while ticking off things on her mental mom list. "Ready to go."

After a quick threat from Sam about leaving her behind to stay with Kara and Lena, Ruby helped load the car with their bags without complaint. As soon as the girl was settled into the backseat, because "Did you really think I hadn't already called shotgun?" Sam had said while showing her the text she'd sent Alex that morning, she started asking Alex about the surfboards strapped to the trunk. Alex loved when Ruby asked her rapid fire questions like this, and gladly answered them until Sam told Ruby to stop and breathe.

Even though Sam had packed snacks and drinks for the drive they still stopped at their favorite on the outskirts diner for breakfast. Sitting in the booth beside Sam with Ruby sitting across from them gave Alex the same cozy feeling she use to get when she'd take road trips with her parents. She could remember feeling the same kind of excitement Ruby was feeling, and she wanted to make sure Ruby made the same kind of memories. Turning her head to look at Sam, the way she smiled as Ruby talked excitedly, the softness of her features as she began to relax, the way her sunglasses pushed her hair back as they rested on top her head. Alex's heart swelled, burst, and filled her with warmth.

The further they got from National City the more Sam relaxed. For the next few days she didn't have to worry about L-Corp, or deal with super powers, or worry about anything that normally worried her. All she had to do was enjoy spending time with her daughter and the woman she was in love with. Sam smiled as she listened to Alex and Ruby sing along to the radio.

Turning to look at Alex she felt a flood of emotion swirl around in her chest. For so long it had just been her and Ruby against the world, and now, now they had this incredible woman Sam never saw coming. Without the hectic day to day of their lives to distract her Sam was finally able to really focus on her feelings for Alex.

As soon as they reached the beach house Ruby lept from the car. Sam blinked. If she didn't know any better she'd have said there was something a bit more to the way Ruby had bounded out of the car, but she shook it off. Ruby was just full of excitement and no patience. "Ruby!" Sam yelled at the girl. "Freeze!"

"But Mom!" Ruby whined as she stopped in her tracks.

"Help us unload." Sam told her.

"I will." Ruby replied as she gave her mom a pleading look. "But I really gotta pee!"

Alex laughed. "I'll get our bags, Sam. Let the kid into the house before she bursts."

"I told her not to get the big gulp." Sam grumbled in that way moms had when they were saying I told you so without saying it outright.

The house wasn't huge but it did have three bedrooms and two and half bathrooms. Ruby would be in one of the two bedrooms on the second floor while Sam and Alex took the master bedroom on the ground floor. The living room was spacious and opened out onto a patio with a fire pit and breathtaking view of the beach. The kitchen was a bit small for Sam's liking but it and the small dining room opened onto the second of three patios. It had a table and chairs, a bar, and a really nice stone barbecue. The house didn't have a pool because as Sam had said, "Why do we need a pool when we're right on the ocean?" But it did have a hot tub on the third patio just outside the master bedroom.

"Wow, this is nice." Alex said as she came up behind Sam and dropped the bags she was carrying.

"You didn't think Jess would let us rent a place that didn't live up to what was advertised did you?" Sam replied with a chuckle.

"Honestly." Alex laughed. "I'm surprised she didn't try to switch us into something a little more…"

"Lena's taste?" Sam cut in. "She knows me better than that."

When Ruby came out of the bathroom she asked, "When can we go down to the beach?"

"After we've settled in." Sam replied. "Let's get the rest of our stuff from the car."

After the long drive Sam felt they just needed to chill for the rest of their first day. So they spent the afternoon on the beach just relaxing and enjoying the water, saving the surfing lessons for the next day. Sam had started smiling from the moment she'd watched Alex short circuit when she walked out of their shared bedroom in her white bikini and sheer wrap and hadn't stopped. Ruby's laugh always made Sam smiled, and watching Alex play with her daughter, causing that laugh, made her incredibly happy. Watching Alex in her green bikini, with the sea water and sun making her skin glow, and her short hair darken from being wet, made Sam feel incredibly lucky. She knew what that skin felt like under her palms, what that hair felt like tangled around her fingers, and what that voice sounded like when it got husky and horse calling out her name. Again something tugged at Sam's heart.

Sam had been so lost in thoughts she probably shouldn't have been having with her daughter so close by that she had missed the whispers and giggles shared between said daughter and her girlfriend. By the time she realized something was up Alex was already pulling her under the water. When she resurfaced she sputtered as she pushed her hair back out of her face. "Oh that's it!" She called out while Alex and Ruby laughed. "You two are in so much trouble!"

Ruby squeaked and Alex laughed as she held up her hands and whispered. "No powers!"

Sam smirked and then used just a little of her super strength to splash the pair. "No promises."

While they'd been planning this trip Alex had taken Sam and Ruby to get wetsuits. She told them if they were going to learn to surf they were going to do it right, which meant wetsuits and the right boards. While she'd brought her own longboard she also brought a board better suited for first timers. It had taken longer than it should have to help Sam into her wetsuit, much to Ruby's annoyance, but Alex couldn't help it. She didn't think there would ever be a time when she wasn't mesmerized by Sam's beauty and warmth. Sam had this perfect balance of strength and softness that drew Alex to her like a cat to patch of sun on a hardwood floor. Sam made her feel things and want things that honestly scared Alex but it was the kind of scared that was a good thing, the kind of heart racing scary that let you know you were alive.

They spent an hour on the beach once they'd finally made it to the beach that morning going over the basics. Having dealt with Kara since she was Ruby's age had given Alex plenty of practice in being patient with the excited preteen. Watching Ruby, watching Ruby and Sam together, sometimes made Alex feel guilty about how hard she was with Kara at first. Ruby was the same age Kara was when Krypton was destroyed, and it tore at Alex's heart to think of Ruby going through what Kara had. It also made her really think about Alura for the first time and what it must have been like for her to send Kara away knowing she would never hold her daughter in her arms again. It would break Sam to have to do that, and in truth it would break her too.

Once they were finally in the water Alex split her time between Ruby and Sam. Ruby was on the fish board, which was the one easiest for beginners, while Sam was on Alex's longboard. Whenever Ruby was focused on practicing what Alex had just shown her Alex would take the opportunity to be a little more hands on while showing Sam.

Sam laughed when she felt Alex's hand glide over her ass and down her legs as she explained how to pop up on her board. Alex was a leg girl, no doubt about it.

After lunch Sam and Ruby settled on a blanket to watch Alex as she actually got to do some surfing. Alex looked so carefree and graceful as she maneuvered the board over the waves. Sam couldn't keep her eyes off her.

Ruby smiled as she watched her mother watching Alex. "I'm really glad you let Alex in."

Sam blinked as she turned her focus from watching her girlfriend to looking into her daughter's eyes. "Hmm? What?"

"I think you're pretty special." Ruby said as she looked into her mother's eyes and smiled happily at her. "And so does Alex, and I was worried that you wouldn't let her in, that you wouldn't let her get close because, I don't, I guess because of me, and me and you, but you did and you're so happy, and I'm just really glad you let her in. I'm glad you let someone else love you like I do."

"Oh Rubes." Sam said as she pulled her daughter into her arms. "You know, I was afraid at first because you're right, I've always been very protective of you and me, and making sure everything in our lives was good for you. If I were to ever let someone in they would have to be extremely special, someone I could trust with the most important thing in my life."

"Me." Ruby said brightly.

"You." Sam nodded and kissed Ruby's temple.

"But you're important too, Mom." Ruby said as she shifted in her mother's embrace so she could look at her again. "And I trust Alex with you."

Sam laughed softly as tears glimmered in her soft brown eyes. "You do, do you?" Ruby nodded and Sam hugged her. "Well it just so happens I trust her with you too." She kissed her daughter's temple again and said, "I'm glad I let her in too, Rubes." 

That evening was spent exploring the boardwalk. Sam and Alex held each other's hands as Ruby ran ahead from stall to stall. They talked and laughed, and Sam took plenty of pictures of Ruby and Alex trying on novelty sunglasses and sticking their heads through holes in wooden standees that looked like mermaids. They had dinner at a surf and turf restaurant where Sam and Alex both tried to tell Ruby she wouldn't like oysters no matter how good Aunt Lena said they were, but let her try them anyway.

As soon as Sam saw the waiter coming with the small plate with three oysters on it Sam took out her phone to record Ruby's reaction. It was unbelievably hard not to laugh at the look on Ruby's face when they were set in front of her.

"What is this?" Ruby asked as she stared down at the three half shells with what looked like balls of gray slime. She poked at one with her finger and grimaced.

"They're oysters baby." Sam told her with a hint of laughter in her voice.

Ruby looked up at her mom which meant she looked right into Sam's horizontal phone. "Aunt Lena eats these? It looks like snot."

Alex laughed. "Aunt Lena also eats fish eggs, we can't always trust what she says is food."

"How do I eat it?" Ruby asked while jabbing at the shell with her finger, causing the insides to wiggle.

Sam handed her phone to Alex as she said, "Here, I'll show you."

Alex continued to record as Sam poured a little lemon juice on one of the oysters and then pounded it down like a shot. Sam shivered and made a face as she said, "Don't chew it just swallow it."

Ruby did exactly what Sam did and nearly threw up but managed to get it down.

"Good job, Rubes!" Sam said proudly while taking her phone back from Alex and then pointing it at her. "Your turn."

"Oh no." Alex said with a shake of her head. "Not a chance. No way."

"Come on Alex." Ruby said as she pushed the plate towards her. "Mom and I did it."

"Yeah well you and your mom are just as weird as Lena." Alex replied.

Sam smirked. "Come on babe, are you really going to chicken out of something a kid just did?"

"You two suck." Alex said as she took her turn downing and gagging on the sea snot.

After sending the video to Lena, Sam put her phone away and enjoyed dinner with her girls. When they got back to the house Alex started a fire in the firepit and they settled on the wicker sofa together to watch the fireworks show put on by the small local amusement park during summer weekends. They'd stopped and gotten pints of handmade ice cream for dessert; lavender salted caramel for Sam, cotton candy and marshmallow for Ruby, and Irish whiskey for Alex. Ruby sat between her mom and Alex and couldn't seem to stop smiling. When Sam went to put their uneaten ice cream in the freezer Ruby asked Alex if she could taste her wine and Alex let her take a sip because, "I was sitting on a beach with my Dad at a bonfire when he let me taste his beer for the first time."

"Eww." Ruby said, crinkling her nose. "That tastes like a juice box with mold in it. Why do grown ups eat and drink gross things!"

"Alexandra did you seriously just give my kid alcohol?" Sam said as she stepped out of the house.

Alex jumped.

Ruby snickered. "She just called you Alexandra."

"No, Samantha, of course not, I would never." Alex winked at Ruby who laughed as Sam took her seat beside the girl again. Then she smiled over Ruby's head at Sam in a flirty way that said please don't be mad.

Ruby ended up falling asleep between them with her head on Alex's shoulder and her feet tucked under Sam's thighs. She fell asleep with the sweetest smile on her lips, the sight of which melted Sam's heart into a puddle. Reaching over Sam brushed hair off Ruby's face and smiled as she said, "I should get little miss lets-try-all-the-new-things-today into bed."

Alex nodded a she smiled down at the sleeping girl. She kissed the top of Ruby's head as she watched Sam stand out of the corner of her eyes. "Goodnight Ruby, sweet dreams kiddo."

There was that pull at Sam's heart again. Sam gently picked Ruby up and her smile brightened as her daughter instinctively snuggled into her. "Benefits of suddenly having super strength. I haven't been able to carry her to bed like this since she was ten."

While Sam was putting Ruby to bed Alex moved closer to the fire pit. She watched the flames dance as she stoked the fire and let herself focus on her thoughts and emotions. She tried to remember the last time she'd felt not only so content and happy but so complete. She thought back to all times she'd spent nights like this with her parents and how happy and loved she'd felt, but looking back on those moments now she couldn't help but think how much better they would have been had Kara been there. Then she thought about the memories she had with Kara and their mom, how it had felt to watch Kara explore and experience new things the way Ruby had tonight, but how her dad had been missing from those moments.

Here in this rented beach house with Sam and Ruby, Alex didn't feel like anything or anyone was missing. She had all she could want, everyone she could want, right here with her. It was a strange but welcome feeling that made her smile as she sat back against the couch and curled her legs up as she reached for her wine glass.

Sam didn't say anything when she returned. She simply picked up her own wine glass and settled on the couch beside Alex, leaning into her body. She smiled when Alex put her arm around her and she rested her head on Alex's shoulder.

It had been a wonderful day and having Ruby fall asleep between them this evening, the contentment, the happiness, the sense of peace that washed over Sam left her feeling so much. They had shown each other how they felt in actions, in smiles and warm eyes, but they hadn't actually said it outloud yet. Saying it outloud, giving voice to the way they felt, would make it real in a way they both had been afraid of. Sam had been on her own since she was sixteen years old and the thought of sharing some of the weight that came with living life was scary as hell, but Alexandra Danvers made her feel brave.

"Alex." Sam said softly as she sat up and shifted so she was facing Alex. Once the redhead looked at her with those big brown eyes Sam smiled and said, "I love you."

There was a soft twitch to Alex's eyes that said Sam's words took her by surprise but the smile that bloomed on her lips said it was the best kind of surprise. There was no hesitation, no doubt whatsoever as she responded. "I love you too, Sam."

Three little words said out loud and suddenly the world didn't feel so heavy.


	5. Chapter 5

The knocking on her apartment door pulled Alex out of her warm bed with a string of mumbled curses. She hadn't gotten home until the wee hours of the morning after spending the night chasing after a nocturnal alien who was assaulting house cats. She and a very irate Supergirl, because, "If he ever tried to eat Streaky I'd heat vision his head off.", had finally captured the alien at around two a.m. She'd been able to make her way home shortly after, but she still felt like she'd just crawled into bed

Swinging the door open Alex growled at the poor young man standing on the other side. "What?"

The young man cringed under the glare and his voice was less than steady as he asked, "Alex Danvers?"

"Yeah." Alex answered.

The young man thrust a bouquet of red roses and a box of chocolate covered strawberries at her. When she took them with a bit a dazed look he held out a mini tablet. "Sign here please."

After tipping the delivery guy Alex took the flowers and box to the breakfast bar. She was still a bit sleep hazy so she wasn't really connecting to why she would be getting flowers at eight a.m. Plucking the card from the flowers she opened the little envelope and read in Sam's elegant handwriting. 'Happy 1st Valentine's Day, Baby. Tonight is all ours and I can't wait. I love you. Sam.'

Valentine's day? Alex blinked and then a slow smile spread across her lips. It was Valentine's Day. She and Sam had plans that night. And while Sam had gone more tradisional with flowers, Alex had ordered something a little more fun a few days ago. There would be a huge box of freshly baked cookies on Sam's desk when she got out of her morning meeting, along with a pint of milk in a glass bottle with painted hearts on it with an A in one and an S in the other. Alex smiled as she leaned in to smell the roses and then grabbed her phone and the strawberries and went back to her bed. 'Happy Valentine's Day, Babe. Thank you for the flowers.' She texted Sam and then set the phone aside and snuggled into her warm bed with a smile.

For the first time since Kara had started dating Lena, Alex didn't dread spending the day with her sister. Kara could be as bubbly and happy as she wanted to be about her plans with Lena. Alex had her own romantic evening to look forward too so it wouldn't be nearly as hard to stomach as it use to be. When Kara asked what their plans were Alex would just smile and say, "Something a little different."

Sam was trying to remember a time when Valentine's Day had been more than just heart shaped pancakes with Ruby and helping her daughter fill out two dozen plus cartoon character cards for her classmates. There had been that one Valentine's Day with Ruby's father that had started off sweetly enough. They'd had a picnic in a field after Sam had snuck out of the house that night, and then they'd had unprotected sex in the bed of his pickup truck. It had been Sam's first time. Sam's life had changed drastically after that night.

Then there had been the Valentine's Day after Lena had over seen the taken over her old company. She and her new boss had spent the whole night eating truffles and drinking expensive champagne over spreadsheets and contracts. She also vaguely remembered a conversation about kissing girls and Lena's drunken confession about being bi, and then Sam laughing and saying she should try it just to piss off Patricia and Lena agreeing with a giggle that, "Oh yes, it's a great way to piss off moms."

Though they'd never been more than friends Lena was a great help to Sam as she discovered she shared Lena's feelings about dating a person for who they were and not what was between their legs. Sam had been so busy taking care of Ruby and working that she hadn't really dated much, and the handful of times she had hadn't left her with any memorable Valentine's Days. Well, hopefully that would all chance tonight, because tonight would be her first of hopefully many with Alex.

"So what restaurant did you buy out for Kara this evening?" Sam teased Lena as they made their way to Sam's office after their investors meeting.

Lena huffed in mock insult. "I did not buy out a restaurant." Sam gave her a knowing look and she admitted, "I hired one of her favorite chefs to make us dinner at the penthouse. Then afterwards, well, you know Kara paints?"

Sam nodded. She had a beautiful painting of Krypton that Kara had given her for Christmas hanging in her study at home. It was apparently Astra's favorite view. Kara told her that when she was very little before things took the turn for the worse, Astra and Alura would sit on the terrace looking over out this particular view and talk for hours.

Lena was smiling that smile that meant nothing but mischief as she continued. "I got her a complete collection of body paints. Some of them are even edible."

Sam laughed. "I would tell you to send me pictures but stuff like that always makes our girls blush."

"Our Danvers Sisters are so soft." Lena said with a bright laugh of her own.

"Which is going to make my night out with Alex that much more fun." Sam teased but wouldn't give Lena any more details.

Alex was determined to show Sam that she wasn't the only one who could make a suit look so good it caused a brain to short circuit. The tuxedo style pants and jacket were black velvet and under the jacket she wore a black corset. Her hair was in tight curls and the makeup around her eyes was a little darker than she normally wore it. She smiled at her reflection in the mirror as she put in her gold dangling earrings before slipping into her heels. Sam didn't stand a chance.

When Alex opened the door Sam gasped softly at what she saw. Alex did have the desired effect on her, but Sam was still the reigning queen at causing Alex to short circuit. She was wearing a white button down dress shirt tucked into a pair of fitted black dress slacks. The first five buttons of the shirt were unbuttoned, and were framed by the long necklaces she wore, which of corse drew the eye to her cleavage. The best part of the outfit were the black suspenders apparently because those were what Alex grabbed hold of her pull Sam into her apartment.

Alex pulled Sam in and used her foot to close the door behind them. Then she pushed Sam up against the door and kissed her hard, pressing her body as close to Sam's as she could get it without letting go of the suspenders.

Sam returned the heated kiss for several passionate moments before finally using just a sliver of her strength to push Alex back. The whimper that got from Alex set a warm tingle down her spine. Sam smiled at Alex as she said, "Later baby, we have a whole night to enjoy first."

"Fuck it." Alex grunted as she tried to push forward to recapture Sam's lips.

"Later." Sam purred, easily keeping the other woman from closing the distance between them. "I promise." She ran her finger along the lapel of Alex's jacket and then over the curve of the bust of the corset. "You look amazing, Alex."

Alex blushed softly. Reaching out she played with the ends of Sam's hair which she had clearly spent a lot of time with a hot iron to get so long and so perfectly straight. "You obviously know how I think you look."

Sam simply smiled at that and then tugged Alex close to kiss her. She made sure it didn't get to heated, she didn't want to let things get out of control to the point where they missed out on their planned evening. Pulling away she smiled at Alex and asked, "Ready to go?"

Alex nodded. The sooner they left the sooner they could come back.

Their first stop of the night was dinner at a restaurant Sam had used her influence as L-Corp's CFO/COO to get reservations for. The atmosphere was warm and romantic, the food was amazing, and the wine was perfect. The real fun however would happen after dinner, across town in an old renovated theater whose basement space had been turned into the perfect venue for a cabaret. After Sam gave her name at the door the couple was shown to one of the red draped tables for two along the wall and near the stage. When they were shown the drink menu Alex whistled softly. Some of the scotches and whiskeys available could rival Lena's collection.

As the tables around them began filling with other patrons it was easy for Alex to think they were at a small music venue waiting for the show to start, but as the room became fuller and the time clicked closer to the start of the show, Alex squirmed a little.

Reaching over Sam put her hand on Alex's thigh as she leaned in close. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine." Alex said, blushing deeply.

Sam smiled. "We don't have to stay."

Alex gave her girlfriend a reassuring smile. "I'm fine, Sam. This'll be fun."

"Ok." Sam replied and rewarded Alex with a soft kiss.

Sam moved closer and put her arm around Alex as the lights went down in the room and came up on the stage. The curtain rose slowly to reveal a man in leather pants, a leather vest and a bowler hat playing the piano. Somewhere off stage other instruments joined him and a spot light lit up the right side of the stage. A woman with long red hair wearing a hunter green robe trimmed in feathers began to sing. When she was center stage Sam and Alex could see that under her half open robe she wore a hunter green and black sparkly corset and matching garters.

Sam leaned in and whispered. "You dressed perfectly for a burlesque show." Sam could hear Alex's heart rate pick up and she smiled against the curve of Alex's ear. "Maybe later you can show me your favorite part of the show."

There was no way Alex wasn't going to give as good as she got. While another increabilly beautiful half dressed dark skinned woman sang about having a fever Alex's hand slide over Sam's thigh, then her middle finger ran up and down the inside seam of Sam's slacks. She would go just high enough to make Sam's breath hitch, smile, and then run her hand back down towards her knee.

Sam growled softly in the back of her throat after the third time. Leaning close once again she nipped at Alex's ear before whispering, "Behave."

Alex bit her lip. "No promises."

Outside of watching Gypsy with Kara, Alex had never seen anything like a burlesque striptease. She was transfixed on the olive skinned, dark haired woman in red on the stage. So of course that's when Sam snapped a picture. Photographic evidence that Alex Danvers was at a naughty show. Sam couldn't hide her amusement. Not that she wasn't just as intrigued and captivated as Alex. She'd been to one other show like this, years ago, with Lena. Seeing a burlesque show was different when seeing it with your girlfriend than it was just your best friend. Both women were impressed by the performer who used acrobatics in her routine, including a giant ring suspended from the ceiling that had her twisting and turning several feet off the ground. And they both decided that a bathroom break and a little air was in order when one performer came out in a sheer blue bodysuit and a red cape. The fire dancer in the black latex had them both looking at each other as if to say, ok that's a bit weird, and a couple of times the almost total nudity had them both blushing and gulping down ice water.

By the end of the two hour show both Alex and Sam were aroused and couldn't get home fast enough. Alex had to actually remind Sam they were in street clothes and she couldn't risk flying them home. The cab ride back to Alex's apartment felt like it took forever and Alex couldn't help but laugh a little. "Aren't I normally the impatient one?"

"Shut up and get inside." Sam replied while pushing Alex towards the doors of her building.

As soon as they were in Alex's apartment and the door was locked behind them Sam pulled the red haired woman to her. She let her left arm snake around Alex's waist while her right hand slide through Alex's hair until it was cupping the back of her neck. She had just enough time to take in Alex's pleased smile before their lips met in a bruising kiss. Before Sam had a chance to take further control of the situation Alex began maneuvering them towards the couch. Once they were there she pulled away and gently pushed Sam onto it. She smiled down at the woman sitting on her sofa staring up at her with questioning light brown eyes. She didn't need Sam's super hearing to hear the soft growl in the back of her lover's throat and that just made Alex smile even more. When Sam reached out to grab hold of her hips Alex shook her head and stepped out of reach.

"Alex." Sam said simply, her voice low and husky, her light brown eyes growing ever darker.

"You did want to know my favorite part of the show didn't you?" Alex replied as she picked up her phone. She bit her lip as she scrolled through one of their playlists and then smiled when she hit play. Nobody by Keith Sweat, one of the songs off their stupidly nostalgic playlist filled the room from Alex's sound system.

Sam watched wide eyed as Alex began rolling her hips as she bit her lip and smiled. Part of her brain was stunned. Was Alex really doing this? Was she really going to do a striptease? The other part of her was all arousal and could only focus on what Alex was doing. The way her hips moved, the way she lifted her arms over her head, the way her eyes never left Sam's as she slowly undid each button on her jacket. Sam swallowed against a dry throat as Alex opened the jacket to reveal the full front of the corset she wore. "Fuck."

"Soon babe." Alex purred, repeating the words Sam had used on her earlier. "I promise."

Alex turned away from Sam but continued to look at her from over her shoulder as she left her black velvet jacket slowly slide down her arms, catching it in her left hand, exposing the low sweeping back of the corset. She moved with purpose, knowing just how to make the muscles in her back move slowly, powerfully under her skin. Slowly she turned to face Sam again. Taking a step closer but remaining out of reach she tossing the jacket so it landed beside Sam. Moving to the music Alex swayed into a slow squat before standing and reaching for the zipper on her pants.

It took every ounce of willpower and strength to keep Sam on the sofa once Alex was down to her corset, matching panties, and heels. She wanted nothing more than to take her over to the bed and use her super strength to get rid of the rest of her clothes, but she didn't. She sat there smiling, her eyes so dark with desire they were nearly black. It got even harder when Alex finally came close enough to touch. The redhead put her hands on Sam's knees as she swayed into another slow crouch and then arched towards Sam as if to kiss her as she stood. There was only so much teasing Sam could take. So the next time Alex teased her with a kiss Sam's hands shot out to take hold of her lover's hips. Alex stopped moving, their eyes locked, and Sam smirked.

This time it was Alex who swallowed against a suddenly dry throat. Daring to take her gaze away from Sam's she let it fall when she felt Sam's hands leave her hips. She watched as those long powerful fingers began unclasping the clasps on her corset. She gasped softly when Sam pulled the corset away and instantly attached her lips to Alex's left nipple. Sam's hands went to Alex's ass and before Alex could fully comprehend what was happening Sam was standing and Alex had her legs wrapped around Sam's waist. She stared into Alex's own darkened eyes as she carried her up the steps to the bed. She set Alex on the bed and then captured her lips in another bruising kiss.

When the kiss ended Sam said, "Back against the pillows, baby. Then don't move."

When Sam returned the only things she was wearing were a pair of black lace panties, and her black band wrist watch. Alex whimpered. Sam was so incredibly beautiful to her that seeing her in nothing but her panties and a watch was one of the hottest things Alex had ever seen. It was just one of those odd things, like the sound of metal clanking when a belt is undone, that she found inexplicably sexy.

Sam smiled as she set two champagne flutes down on the bedside table before reaching for the hidden switch that would turn on the red sun lighting they'd had installed in each of their bedrooms. After getting on the bed she swung one of her long legs over Alex so she was straddling her hips. She had a bottle of champagne in her hand and a wicked smile on her lips as she stared down at Alex. Leaning forward a little she pretended to reach for the glasses she'd left on the bedside table while pouring some of that champagne all over Alex's bare chest.

Alex gasped from the sudden coldness.

"Opps." Sam purred. "Better clean that up."

Alex moaned as she arched her chest into Sam as the other woman licked and sucked at her champagne covered chest. She understood that Sam was going to punish her for all the teasing and she was going to love every fucking moment of it. She would wear every love mark Sam left on her skin as a badge of honor because she was the one blessed by the presence of this woman in her life, in her bed, and in her heart.

Though Alex's eyes were dark with desire there was something incredibly soft in them as well. The look made Sam feel the kind of warmth that started in her heart and spread out through her body and she smiled as she asked, "Baby?"

"I love you, Sam." Alex said softly.

Sam set the bottle aside before pulling Alex into a sitting position. They wrapped their arms around each other as Sam replied, "I love you too, Alex."

They held each other like that for a little while before Sam somehow magically made a red, and a black silk scarf appear out of nowhere. She smiled that wicked half grin and popped her eyebrows in a playful manner before tying the black scarf around Alex's eyes and using the red one to bind Alex's wrists together and then securing that to a small ring hidden behind the headboard. Then Sam's hands and lips and tongue were exploring every inch of Alex's body. Her exploration was slow and it drove Alex insane. By the time Sam made it south of her belly button the badass Alex Danvers was begging.

"Please Sammie!" Alex moaned as she pulled on her binds futility. She arched her back and pressed her heels into the mattress so hard she could feel a charlie horse teasing her calf muscles. "Please!"

Sam reached up to release Alex's binds just as she finally gave her love just want she wanted. She wanted to feel Alex's hands in her hair, her nails raking over her shoulders. She watched as Alex took off the blindfold and looked into her eyes. She saw the spark just before Alex's eyes slammed closed as her body exploded and Sam smiled, bit her lip, and watched the beauty of the other woman in that moment.

After a little time to recover in Sam's arms and a bottle of water Alex was more than ready and willing to make sure Sam felt the same kind of love and adoration she'd just felt. She started with a long slow kiss before moving her lips to Sam's neck. She trailed her tongue along Sam's clavicle and down between her breasts. She palmed one breast while kissing the curve of the other, and when Alex felt Sam's leg brush against her thigh then over her hip, she smiled against Sam's flushed skin.

Once she'd kissed her way down Sam's stomach Alex shifted so she was straddling Sam, positioning herself just right so that they were pressed together. With Sam's leg still hooked over her hip, Alex began to roll her hips, while reaching behind her to sink two fingers in deep. She soon had Sam moaning as she arched her back off the bed. When pleasure hit, it hit them simultaneously. Sam sat up and wrapped her arms around Alex as their bodies trembled and she cried out her love's name. Again they stayed like that, entwined and holding each other as their bodies quaked and their hearts raced, and their breathing slowed back to normal. They clung to each other as if they were afraid to let go.

Alex brushed damp hair from Sam's face as she looked down into her beautiful eyes. "I love you."

Sam smiled as she reached up to hold Alex's face in her hands. "I love you."

The sky had turned a soft gray and a sliver of orange could be seen at the horizon when the pair finally cuddled up, Sam as always the big spoon, and went to sleep. It was the smell of coffee and breakfast that pulled Alex out of her peaceful sleep the next morning. She whimpered softly when she stretched in bed to find herself alone. As she snuggled a little longer in bed she smiled at the soreness in her body and hummed softly to herself in approval. What a night.

"Breakfast is nearly ready." Sam called from the kitchen.

"Come back to bed." Alex replied.

Sam smiled while flipping a chocolate chip pancake. "I wish I could baby but we both have to go to work."

Alex finally sat up and pouted. Dragging herself out of bed she pulled on a pair of shorts and a tank top then made her way over to Sam, wrapping her arms around her from behind and resting her chin on her shoulder. "Good morning."

"Very good morning." Sam replied.

Once breakfast was ready they sat as close as they could get at Alex's table. Sam had insisted on sitting at the table because of the sticky syrup on their pancakes. Alex had teased her about being such a mom which caused Sam to smack her behind with a huff. When Sam's phone buzzed with a text message Alex was close enough to see the picture that popped up when Sam opened it. She blinked. "What is that?"

Sam smirked. "Lena."

"Lena?" Alex repeated.

"Lena, naked and covered in body paint that your sister painted on her." Sam clarified.

"Sam!" Alex squeaked as she blushed and pushed Sam's hand away so she couldn't see her phone. "I didn't need to see that!"

Sam laughed hard as she said, "You can't really see anything, Alex. Kara's very talented."

Alex covered her ears and closed her eyes as she shook her head. "I didn't need to know that either!"

Sam turned her phone over and place it on the table before kissing Alex's cheek and laughing. "So soft."


	6. Chapter 6

While her morning had been extremely busy it had been well worth it. Sam had been able to cram most of her days work into the time she spent at the office which gave her the rest of the afternoon to enjoy. Sitting in the bleachers watching Ruby's softball team play for a spot in the league's playoffs was well worth the hassle of her morning and whatever was left over that she would have to do at home that evening. Sam's heart swelled as she watched Alex step up to Ruby who was waiting her turn to bat to give their girl some last minute advice. A slow happy smile spread across Sam face as she thought about how easy it was these days to think of Ruby as theirs, as hers and Alex's, because she knew how much Alex loved Ruby and she trusted her girlfriend with her daughter in a way she never thought she would.

When Ruby stepped up to the plate Sam cheered loudest, calling out her daughter's name, but Lena and Kara were a close second. Even Andrew gave the other fans a run for their money as he imitated his grow ups behavior. Sam truly cherished her little ragtag family. It was almost hard for her to remember the days were it was just her and Ruby against the world. Now it was Luthors and Danvers, and her and Ruby against the world.

With Ruby batting in the winning run the L-Corp sponsored Sunbirds were on their way to the playoffs. Sam, Kara and Lena shot out of their seats at the end of the game while Ruby ran at Alex to fling herself into the redhead's arms.

"Good job, Rubes!" Alex praised as she hugged the girl tight. "I'm proud of you kiddo."

The team and their families celebrated with pizza and ice cream which Lena paid for of course. They were all so excited and ramped up about maybe winning the championship, and Lena promising them t-shirts and hats just like the big leaguers got when they won a championship only made the excitement worse. It really wasn't any big surprise that when they got home that evening Ruby crashed hard, falling asleep on the couch after taking a shower.

Sam smiled softly as she walked over to the sofa and gently shook Ruby's shoulder. "Rubes, baby, dinner's ready."

Ruby moaned softly. "Mommy, I don't feel so good."

Instantly Sam was on the other side of the sofa and crouched in front of her daughter. Pressing her hand to Ruby's forehead Sam frowned. "Feels like you have a fever, baby. What hurts?"

"Everything." Ruby said with a whimper.

"Sounds like the flu." Sam said softly. "Let's get you in bed sweetheart."

Ruby groaned when her mother picked her up. "Will I still be able to play next weekend?"

"Hopefully." Sam answered as she carried her little girl to her room.

When Alex came over after work she agreed with Sam that it sounded like Ruby had the flu. Alex went out and got medicine to make it as easy on Ruby as they could, and they both kept an eye on her. It was sometime after one a.m. when Alex was startled out of sleep by Sam's scream.

"Alex!" Sam yelled from Ruby's room. "Alex help!"

The redhead sprung from her girlfriend's bed and ran down the hall to Ruby's room to find the girl convulsing and Sam looking at her with fear in her eyes. Rushing to Ruby, Alex began examining her and quickly turned to Sam and said, "Get her to the DEO, I'm right behind you! Go!"

Sam nodded. She picked her daughter up gently and whispered, "It'll be alright, Ruby."

Alex watched as Sam left with Ruby before pulling out her phone to text Kara while saying out loud, "Kara I need you!"

Moments later Supergirl was walking in through Sam's open french doors. "Alex?"

"We need to get to the DEO now!" Alex told her sister.

Supergirl simply nodded, put her arm around Alex's wasit, and took off.

When they landed at the DEO Ruby had been taken to the medlab so that's where Alex went. Her best medic was already working on the girl. Sam stood close by but out of the way and when Kara walked over to stand beside her she let her cousin take her hand to hold as they watched and listened to Alex and the medical team exchange medical lingo.

"What happened?" Kara asked softly.

"She wasn't feeling well." Sam replied. "We thought she had the flu."

Kara tightened her hand on Sam's. "I'm sure that's all it is, Sam."

It wasn't. It was something more, something different, something Alex had never seen before. She needed to figure out what it was, how Ruby got it, and how to treat it, but first she needed to keep Ruby stable. She needed to break her fever to keep her from convulsing again. She needed make it easier for her to breathe. She needed to make her comfortable, stable, safe. She needed to be there for Sam, to reassure her, to tell her that they would make it all better.

Sam barely left Ruby's side. For the few minutes Ruby was awake she reassured her, promised her that it would be ok. The rest of the time she mainly sat there holding her daughter's hand. When it got to be to much she slipped away to be alone. Finding herself in the room where her aunt and mother's holograms were kept she slid down the wall until she was sitting on the floor. Bringing her knees up to her chest Sam let herself give into the fear she felt and the tears she'd been holding back since finding Ruby trembling in her bed finally came. When the lights around her suddenly dimmed Sam's head jerked up from where she'd been resting it against her knees. She was surprised by the hologram that now stood on the dais. She hadn't summoned it, hadn't said a word, had she?

"Mother?" Sam whispered, her voice raw and thick with emotion.

The hologram of Astra replied with a soft, "Samantha."

Sam forced herself to stand as she said, "My daughter's sick. I don't know what to do."

"How can I help?" Astra's hologram asked.

Alex was scared. She was angry and she was scared. She was doing everything she could to help Ruby, to figure out what was going on with her, but it felt like everytime she had a handle on it, it would crumble like wet sand and melt out of her reach. She loved that little girl with all her heart and seeing her so sick was causing a physical pain in Alex's chest, one that left her unable to take a full breath. Sam and Ruby had become her world and she felt like her world was on the verge of sharing the same fate as the distant planet that had give her everything she loved most. Hot tears welled in Alex's eyes and rolled down her cheeks as her emotions came to a head. Grabbing the nearest thing, a microscope, she threw it as hard as she could with a deep primal growl.

"Alex?" Kara said softly.

When Alex opened her eyes she saw her sister standing there holding the microscope. "I don't know what I'm doing, Kara. I can't figure this out. They need me and I can't figure this out!"

Kara set the microscope down on the table and walked over to hug her sister. "You will, Alex." She said firmly as she held her sister protectively in her arms. "You will figure this out, but maybe a little help would make it easier." Stepping back from Alex, Kara took her face in her hands and said, "It's going to be alright. We will save Ruby."

When it became clear that there was something off about Ruby getting sick everyone pitched in to figure out what had happened, and what was going on with her. Winn spent hours recreating the last couple of days, everything Ruby did, everywhere she went, everyone she interacted with. When he walked into Alex's lab he heard her telling Lena that the medicine they were using to treat Ruby wasn't working as well as it should, and that she wasn't sure what to do next, or what she would do when it stopped working all together.

"I know she hasn't manifested any powers yet and we're not even sure she will manifest powers," Winn said softly, as if he were leery of speaking. "But she is half Kryptonian, maybe the sun lamps would help?"

Alex looked up at him and blinked. "What?"

"Maybe not put her directly under the lamps like you do with Kara or Sam, but maybe just in her vicinity?" Winn said as he stepped closer.

Lena thought it over then looked at Alex. "It's worth a try."

"I'd have to set them up for human use." Alex said after a moment.

Winn spoke up again. "They already are." When they looked at him he looked a little sheepish. "Hey, S.A.D is a real thing." He huffed softly. "It's gets really gray around here in winter."

"It's a good suggestion, Winn." Lena said with a reassuring smile.

He returned the smile before addressing why he'd come to the lab in the first place. "I might have something, I'm not really sure." He pulled up a still from a video he'd been watching of Ruby's softball game. It was a picture of a man with Ruby during the commotion of celebrating their win. He showed it to them and asked, "Do either of you know him?"

Alex took the tablet and stared at the picture for a long moment before shaking her head. "I've never seen him before."

"Me either." Lena said with a shake of her head. She looked at the picture closely, the man was smiling while he shook Ruby's hand. He wore what looked like a coach's windbreaker but for the other team. The picture looked innocent enough, just an opposing coach congratulating a member of the winning team. "He must be one of the couches for the other team."

Winn shook his head. "I've run background checks on everyone Ruby has come into contact with the last few days. He's not a coach with the softball league."

Alex shot to her feet. "Then who the hell is he?"

When Sam returned to Ruby's bedside Lena was sitting with her. "Sun lamps?"

Lena looked up at her friend and nodded. "Winn's idea. We thought it was worth a try."

Sam chuckled half heartedly as she walked over to stand beside her friend and take her daughter's hand. "When Kara or I scare her, sun lamps are her go to. I think it makes her feel better somehow, kind of like wrapping us up in a security blanket." She looked around the room before asking, "Where is she? She wasn't in the other lab."

Lena bit her lip before admitting. "She just left to follow up on a lead."

Sam stiffened and her eyes hardened. "What kind of lead?"

Winn used facial recognition software and CCTV feeds along with Lena's satellites and alien tracking software to locate the man in the picture. He was still working on identifying him, but at least they had a reasonably good idea where to find him.

"What was this place, Winn?" Alex asked into her earpiece as she and her elite strike team closed in on an old abandoned brick building.

It took a few seconds for Winn to respond. "Huh, that's weird, it use to be an old CDC site before they moved after rezoning turned that area into part of National Heights. Rich people didn't like the idea of having a CDC site in their backyard."

Alex frowned as she moved silently into the building through a side door with her team at her side. A part of her knew she should have waited on Kara to come back from getting whatever help she'd gone for, but another bigger part of her wanted to get her bare hands around this guy's throat. She lowered her voice to a level only the earpiece would pick up as she asked, "What kind of work did the CDC do here?"

"Give me a second." Winn said. He felt someone step up behind him and stiffened a little when he saw it was Sam. She stood with her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes on the live feed coming from the teams' bodycams.

Sam narrowed her eyes as she took in the team on the screen. "Where's Supergirl?"

Winn swallowed against a suddenly dry throat. "Um, she went to get someone to help with Ruby."

Now Sam's eyes were wide and full of a mix of anger and fear. "Alex is out there alone!?"

"No." Winn said. "She has her team."

Alex had a bad feeling about this. That feeling only got worse when she noticed the biohazard markings all around them. "Winn?"

"Right." Winn's voice crackled over their earpieces. "That particular outpost use to focus on.. Oh… Um, well, believe it or not, infectious diseases."

"Fuck." Alex growled. Her training kicked in and she ordered her team to fall back. They weren't prepared for nor equipped for dealing with this kind of thing.

"Alex get your ass out of there!" Sam's voice ordered over the comms. "Now!"

"I am!" Alex replied, but as she turned to go back the way she came she found her way blocked.

The man that appeared on the live feed was tall and slender but well built. His skin was naturally tan, his hair short and dark, and his eyes... His eyes sent a chill down Sam's spine. They were the same milky white as Purity's. Her grip tightened on Winn's chair so much that she took a chunk out it.

Winn heard the soft thud of something hitting the floor. He glanced down to find a chunk of his chair. When he turned to look back at Sam she was gone.

As soon as Alex saw the man her anger flared again. She pointed her gun at him and demanded, "What the hell did you do to my kid!?"

"Penance must be paid." The man said with a sick twisted smile.

Alex's heart dropped to her stomach as she looked into his milky eyes. "Who are you?"

"Who I am is also the answer to your first question." The man said as he slowly began moving towards Alex. "I am Pestilence. I am the line between the weak and the strong. I weed out those unworthy to survive."

"Not another one." Alex groaned. Sam had warned them about there being a third. She'd recalled a dream, or a vision, she'd had while under the control of the Reign virus. The world burned while she hovered above it watching and behind her were two others. Purity, Julia Freeman, was currently in suspended animation in a tank of Lena's design, in a deep coma induced by J'onn. Julia was different than Sam in so many ways. She wasn't Kryptonian and her powers seemed to have been genetically engineered. The worldkiller programming seemed to be similar, but because of all the differences they'd basically had to start all over in helping her.

Though right this second the last thing on Alex's mind is saving anyone who wasn't Ruby. "Tell me what you did to my kid!"

"She and you are her weakness." Pestilence replied. "And I…"

The blast of heat vision sent Pestilence sailing back through a window and into a wall at the back of the far lab. When Astra landed beside Alex she growled, "You and I need to talk about you doing stupid reckless things like taking on a Worldkiller by your damn self."

"In my defense," Alex replied to her uniformed superhero girlfriend. "I didn't know he was a fucking worldkiller until just now."

Carefully the pair inched forward but they both stopped when they heard the howl of anger. When Pestilence staggered out of the rubble he was covered in shards of glass and brick dust. He'd been wearing black jeans and a black short sleeve button up, which now hung open thanks to Astra's blast of heat vision. When he saw Astra he began to laugh as he looked into her eyes. "There you are. The child of old blood, pure blood, the chosen one. The one to lead us. The one who was meant to rule at her father's side." His voice dropped and his next words were almost growled out. "The one who remained untouched, controlled, but untouched, left pure, left whole. Kryptonian master to her war dogs."

Sam made a show of looking around as if looking for who he was talking about and then looked at him and pointed to herself. "Who me? Nope, afraid you've got the wrong girl."

"I waited for Reign to come for me." Pestilence growled. "Asleep in my pod I waited to be awoken so I may serve but I remained asleep for so long, too long. When I was finally released I was alone but I knew my place, I knew I was to be at Reign's side, but Reign was gone. Purity was gone. I was all that remained." He held out both of his hands and smiled. He clutched several vials in each hand. He smashed them against his bare chest as he roared. "I will bring this world to its knees and you, daughter of Krypton, will watch it suffer!" He smiled at her as he said, "The child was only the start of your punishment." His eyes shifted from Sam to Alex. "All you hold dear will pay the price of your sins."

Pestilence continued to smirk as he rubbed his hands together and then blew a breath across his palms. Sam surged forward, punching him in the face. He blocked her next attack and tried to counter but ducked, then Sam swept her leg, knocking his out from under him. She blasted him again with heat vision which caused him to roar in pain. She was about to advance on him again when she heard it, the soft thump of a body hitting the floor. Sam turned towards the sound and her heart stopped.

"Alex!" She cried out as she rushed to her girlfriend's side. Her breathing was labored and her heart rate was slowing. "No! Alex! Alex don't do this!"

Sam picked Alex up in her arms and flew her back to the DEO as fast as she could.

"What happened?" Kara demanded as soon as Sam landed with Alex in her arms. She watched as Sam put her sister on the waiting stretcher.

"She went after a led on her own." Sam replied, unable to take her eyes off Alex as the medical team worked on her. "I went after her." Sam's anger and fear got the better of her and as they took Alex to the medbay she turned on Kara. "Where the hell were you!? Where the hell did you go!?"

"I went to get Eliza." Kara answered. "To help with Ruby."

Sam wanted to continue taking out her emotions on Kara but she couldn't. Kara had gone to get the only person she trusted who wasn't already there to help make Ruby better. She could still do it, she knew deep down that she could unleash on Kara and her cousin would take it, but she couldn't. Sam growled and threw up her hands as she barked, "Your sister!"

"I know." Kara said with understanding. "Believe me I know."

They stood outside the medlab watching helplessly as the medical team and Eliza tried to stabilize Alex. Sam couldn't breathe. The two halves of her heart were both in danger. They had been attacked by a monster created because her father wanted to rule and dominate a dying planet? This had to stop, and she hoped that putting the last of the worldkillers down would finally end it.

When Winn used the information Sam gave them about how Pestilence had smashed the vials into his skin they came up with the theory that he was feeding off disease samples. National City had several research hospitals that would have live samples so they began monitoring those for any activity. At first it was just an uptick in emergency room visits, people coming in with what the doctors were calling a new super strain of flu.

"He's starting to infect the populace." Lena said as she worked beside Winn at the computers. Turning in her chair she looked up at her friend and suddenly asked, "Sam, how are you feeling?"

"Pissed." Sam growled.

"I meant physically." Lena said with a raised brow.

Sam blinked. She took stock of herself and shrugged. "Fine, why?"

"The attack on Alex was airborne and you were only a few feet away from her. You would have breathed it in as well." Lena said. "The attack on Ruby was physical. You touched him while you were fighting him at the CDC site. Perhaps his ability doesn't work on Kryptonians?"

"Or it just doesn't work on Sam." Winn said. "Since she was meant to be his boss."

A warning light went off indicating something was happening at the Luthor Family Children's Hospital. "Well, we're about to find out which one it is." Kara said as she pointed to the screen. "Astra?"

Sam was already gone.

Despite Sam's head start Kara was still first on the scene. She snatched Pestilence with a witty remark about scaring the children and took him away from the city. Once again the Ze cousins worked as a team to take down a worldkiller, but half way through the fight something started happening to Pestilence. They watched in horror as his body began to twist and morph into something far less human. They could hear as well as see the changes happening and after a quick glance at each other Sam knew Kara's dreams would be haunted by what they were witnessing as well. When it was all over the man was gone, a beast with gray fur and a long face, and red beady eyes was left in his place. J'onn said he looked like a distant alien race that were humanoid sentient animals, but there was more to Pestilence than that. To Kara and Winn he looked like a mutated horror movie version of Master Splinter.

"A rat that spreads the plague." Winn said over comms. "Kryptontains seemed to know a lot about Earth, it's a little worrisome."

In his true form Pestilence was stronger but still was no match for two Kryptontains. Once he was subdued a tactical team came in to began containment and Kara and Sam returned the DEO. Alex was stable but critical. Whatever Pestilence had infected her with was working faster on her than Ruby, or so it seemed. Sam wasn't sure if she were imagining it but Ruby looked better as she checked in on her. She didn't look so pale, nor did she feel as warm when Sam kissed her forehead. Alex on the other hand.

"Fight baby." Sam said as she held Alex's hand. "Please fight, we can't lose you. I can't lose you."

Word came from the command center that Pestilence had escaped containment and was on the loose. Sam and Kara were about to take off after him once again when they both heard it. Their bodies stiffened, their hearts stopped, and in a flash they were outside the medlab. The medical team was once again working on Alex. When Sam heard the heart monitor flatline something inside her snapped. She flew out of the DEO in a rage.

"Sam!" Kara yelled after her. "Sam!"

Kara was about to follow her cousin but another sound caught her attention and instead of rushing after Sam she rushed to Ruby's bed.

Ruby moaned softly as she struggled to open her eyes. "Mommy?"

"Ruby." Kara gasped.

Sam didn't bother to slow the speed of her flight as she zeroed in on Pestilence. She grabbed hold of him and arched upwards, flying as high as she could and as far as she could as fast as she could. When she was over the desert she raised Pestilence over her head and threw him down as hard as she could. There would be no holding back, there would be no conserving her powers. She descended with just as much speed, and when her boots came into contact with Pestilence's chest as they hit the ground she heard bones breaking as they drilled into the surface. Grabbing hold of him she flew him out of the hole they'd made and then threw him a few feet away. In her mind all she could hear was the flatline of Alex's heart and as she turned her heat vision on him she screamed with such primal rage and heartbreak that the ground shuttered beneath her.

Sam hadn't been this savage in her fighting since she'd nearly killed Kara.

She was moments from solar flaring when Pestilence, who'd done his best to put up a fight against her rage, suddenly stopped and dropped to his knees. His face contorted into a silent scream and then he fell forward. Sam blinked, confused and still blinded by pain and rage. Finally she noticed the figure floating several feet behind the twitching worldkiller's fallen body. J'onn, in his true form, hovered with what looked like a rifle in his hands. She watched him float towards her and then land, walking the remaining distance between them.

"J'onn." Her voice was hoarse. "What?"

J'onn reached out to put a hand on her shoulder. "You fought him long enough to allow Eliza to create a antidote. You kept the people of National City safe, Astra. Well done."

Sam was confused and frankly really dizzy. She shook her head. "I was going to…"

"I know." J'onn said solemnly. "And sometimes that's the road we have to take, despite how much Kara hates it." He squeezed her shoulder gently. "I made a promise to myself a long time ago, that if that was the only option, I would do it. Alex lives with a thorn of guilt in her heart over what she had to do to Astra. I won't let any of my girls suffer that again, not if I can help it."

Sam could have smiled at being included as one of J'onn's girls but at the moment it was taking all she had just to remain standing. Blinking again she quickly shifted through the maelstrom going on in her head and frowned a little. "Wait, antidote? How?" Then her eyes went wide. "Antidote? Ruby? Alex?"

J'onn smiled. "Ruby is awake. Apparently putting her under the sun lamps triggered some of her Kryptonian DNA and her body began making antibodies to fight off the disease. Eliza was able to use that to create an antidote, quickly thanks to Kara's help. Alex is getting treatment as we speak."

Relief washed over Sam and her knees finally gave out. J'onn was quick to catch her and help her stand. "How long have I been fighting?"

"Long enough to nearly blow out your powers." J'onn said as he secured his arm around her waist and slowly began to lift off the ground.

Sam moaned as she let her head fall onto J'onn's shoulder. "Alex is gonna be pissed."

"Mommy." Ruby said as soon as she saw Sam walk in.

"Hi baby." Sam said as she rushed over to her daughter's bedside to gather her into her arms. She hugged Ruby tight and kissed her temple, her forehead, her nose, and then went back to hugging her. "How are you feeling, baby?"

"Like crap." Ruby said honestly. "But Grandma Eliza said I'll feel better soon."

Sam smirked as she pulled back. "Grandma Eliza?"

Ruby beamed at her mother as she nodded. "She said I could call her that if I wanted too, and I want too."

Sam was already on the verge of tears and hearing that Alex's mother was willing to be to her daughter what her own mother had refused to be. Well, Sam wasn't sure how much longer she could hold it together. "I'm so glad you're alright, baby."

That was one half of her heart on the mend. Now she needed to check on the other half. After changing out of her uniform Sam made her way to Alex's bedside. She felt her heart constrict painfully in her chest as she took Alex in. She listened to the steady beeping of the heart monitor, trying desperately to push away the phantom sound of the flatline that had driven her into a panic pain filled rage. Stepping closer she looked down into Alex's face and she could no longer hold back the tears as she took Alex's hand in her own.

Leaning down she kissed Alex's forehead before sitting on the stool beside the bed. "Alex, baby, I need you to wake up. I need to see your beautiful eyes and hear your voice. I can't lose you, Alex. Ruby and I, we can't lose you. Do you know how much we love you?" Reaching out she brushed at Alex's hair. "Do you know how full my heart felt when I heard you call Ruby you're kid? I didn't think I would ever willingly share her with anyone, but you're not just anyone, Alex."

She didn't leave Alex's side. Sam sat there holding Alex's hand and talking to her, telling her about everything. She told her Ruby was alright and getting better, and that she helped to save Alex, and that they might be facing Ruby with powers soon. She told her what happened with Pestilence and that he wouldn't be an issue again, ever. That he'd been dealt with, and that she was a doctor and she knew how disease samples were destroyed. She told her that Kara wasn't very happy with the outcome because she was Kara and it was hard for her to accept that not everyone could be saved. She even admitted to ripping out of the DEO in a rage and nearly blowing out her powers fighting.

"We." Alex's voice was a croaked whisper but Sam heard her and it made her head snap up. "We need… need to talk about you doing stupid reckless things."

"Alex!" Sam sobbed before taking the other woman's face in her hands and kissing her.

Alex was smirking when Sam pulled away. "Hi."

"Hi." Sam half laughed half sobbed.

Sam was shooed out so Alex could be examined so she went to tell Ruby who was sitting up and playing dominoes with Lena. They had turned the sun lamps up a little higher and Ruby seemed to be responding well to them. Lena fussed at Sam about spending some time under the lamps herself but Sam shook her head. When she returned to Alex her girlfriend smiled and then laughed when Sam held out a lollipop.

"I get a lollipop?" Alex said, repeating the words Sam had once said to her. She remembered that moment and the thought of, oh fuck I could fall for this woman, she'd had when Sam smiled at her with an orange lollipop in her mouth.

"You get a lollipop." Sam said before kissing Alex.


	7. Chapter 7

Since her illness they watched Ruby closely waiting to see if she would develop powers. Sam wasn't sure how she felt about her daughter having powers. She was still dealing with the reality of having superpowers herself and she was a full on adult. How was a kid supposed to comprehend these abilities? Teenagers already thought they were invincible, how was she supposed to deal with a teenager who actually was? Thank Rao for Eliza Danvers. Her girlfriend's mother had offered any help Sam might need. Eliza and Jeremiah had helped a young Superman explore his powers long ago, and that had led to him entrusting them with Kara. So before she returned to Midvale Eliza had made sure to tell Sam she could reach out to her whenever she needed too.

They were having a much needed quiet family dinner with Lena, Kara, and Andrew coming over to join them. Sam was doing most of the actual cooking but Alex and Ruby were helping out as her sous chefs. They were busy chopping and slicing everything from small red potatoes, to lemons, to asparagus, to the herbs Sam would need. While Sam prepped the salmon and whisked together the honey garlic glaze for the salmon, she watched as Alex and Ruby goofed around. She smiled warmly at the pair, the two halves of her heart, and once again allowed herself to feel the relief of knowing they were both ok, healthy, strong, and still very much present in her life.

"Be careful you two." Sam scolded softly when she saw Ruby pick up a sharp knife to slice lemons.

Ruby affirmed that she would be careful but continued to dance around while using the really expensive really sharp chef's knife she'd grabbed from the block of knives on the island. Sam and Alex both gasped when they saw the knife slip. Sam called out her daughter's name and prepared herself for all the blood, while Alex grabbed a clean towel and Ruby's hand, instantly ready to stem any bleeding and examine the wound. There was no wound. Sam and Alex looked up and over Ruby's head at each other.

"This is so cool!" Ruby said in awe as she looked at her finger, which by all rights should have a huge gasp. "I barely even felt it!"

Sam watched in horror as Ruby ran the tip of the knife across her palm. "Ruby!"

"What?" The girl replied as she held up her unharmed hand. "I have powers!"

After dinner Sam sat beside Alex on the sofa with a glass of wine in hand as she listened to Kara explain, "Invulnerability and super strength are normally the first powers to manafest. They're the foundation for all the others. I mean, heat vision would be impossible if we weren't invulnerable to harm."

Sam nodded. "That makes sense." She sipped her wine before saying, "I'm sure I'd have hurt myself lifting that tower off Ruby if I weren't invulnerable to damaging my muscles."

"My heart still races when I think about Ruby running that knife over her palm." Alex said with a shudder. "She could have found a less dramatic way to test her new power."

That made Sam chuckle softly. "Like mother like daughter."

Lena raised an inquisitive eyebrow at that. "How so?"

"Well," Sam said, blushing a little from embarrassment. "After I found a flattened bullet and a bullet hole in one of my favorite shirts and not my body, I had the brilliant idea to stick my hand in a pot of boiling water."

"Sam!" Alex said with a huffed chuckle while staring at her girlfriend. It was still hard for her to wrap her head about it sometimes. Not only that she was so in love with another person that a simple smile or the sound of her laugh made Alex's heart skip a beat, but that she had fallen in love with a woman just like Kara. Alex had to laugh. There were two full blooded Kryptonian females on Earth, one was her sister and the other was her girlfriend.

Sam merely shrugged, still slightly flushed from embarrassment. After a moment and a few sips of wine from everyone, she looked over at her cousin who was sitting on the floor in front of the chair where Lena sat., with Lena's fingers sunk deep into her mass of blonde curls. "What about you Kara? Did you do anything stupid and dramatic to test your powers?"

Kara shook her head carefully. She didn't want to dislodge Lena's fingers as they gently played with her hair. "I didn't have to. I had Alex for that." She smirked a bratty little sister smirk at her sister before totally ratting her out. "She tested my invulnerability by throwing a lawn dart at my foot, and by convincing me Eliza needed fresh honey to make my favorite cookies and that I'd be a big help to her if I went to get it, in the woods near our house, from a very large and very active beehive in a really tall tree." Kara's smirk faulted a little. "I ended up killing the bees accidently but the silver lining was that Jeremiah and I got to eat honeycomb until he nearly made himself sick, then I finished the rest, and Alex was grounded for three months."

"Alex!" Sam said, wide eyed as she looked at her girlfriend.

"What?" Alex said with a chuckle. "I told you I was a little shit to Kara at first."

Kara nodded her agreement that Alex had been in fact a shit. "To be fair it wasn't really one sided. We didn't like each other much until I was like fifteen."

"You were twelve when you landed." Lena said with a frown.

"Yeah, the first two and half years were rough for us." Alex said as she looked at her sister with a touch of sadness in her eyes. "I regret missing out on that time we could have had as real sisters."

Sam knew the looks the Danvers sisters were exchanging well at this point and easily moved away from Alex so Kara could come over and cuddle with her sister.

"It's ok, Alex." Kara said as she cuddled into her sister's side. "We've made up for it since then."

Now that they knew for sure that Ruby was developing powers Sam agreed that it would be best to keep a closer eye on her, and even start training her. At first it was weekly visits to the DEO where Kara and Sam would take Ruby to the special gym they used. They tested her strength with some controlled destruction which Ruby thought was a ton of fun. Sam could tell that Ruby liked this part of having powers, that it was all so new and exciting for her. But Sam also knew that when the reality of having powers hit, it wasn't going to be easy for Ruby. Her daughter would have to make some changes in her life and like herself and Kara, she would have to shoulder the burden of their shared secret. She hadn't wanted that for her daughter and had hoped Ruby would remain fully human, but what was it Patrica use to say, if wishes were fishes we'd all swim in riches.

The first real change that Ruby wasn't happy with concerned soccer and softball.

"I'm sorry kiddo." Alex said as she sat on the coffee table across from Ruby who sat beside her mother. "But until you've got complete control of your powers, you playing sports just isn't a good idea."

"But why not?" Ruby practically whined. "I don't want to give up playing soccer or softball."

"We know you don't want too, baby." Sam said gently but firmly. "But with your powers being uncontrollable right now you could put your teammates and spectators in danger."

"If you threw a ground ball to second base too hard you could seriously hurt the second baseman." Alex told her honestly. "Or if you challenged someone for the ball on the soccer field, a little to much force in your kick and same thing happens."

Tears were welling in Ruby's eyes. She really liked playing soccer and softball, and more than that, she'd always planned on using sports to get a scholarship to help her mom send her to college. "This isn't fair!"

"I know it isn't, Rubes." Sam said with a soft sigh. "I'm sorry baby."

Alex watched as Ruby stormed off and flinched when the fourteen year old slammed her bedroom door. When Sam didn't respond to Ruby slamming her door Alex turned to look at her girlfriend. Moving to the sofa to sit beside Sam, Alex took the taller woman's hand in her own. "Why did that sorry sound like more than just you being sympathetic?"

Sam sighed softly. "This is my fault."

"Sam." Alex said while reaching out to make Sam look at her. "You can't blame yourself for her having your powers any more than you can blame yourself for her having your eyes or your dark hair, or your beautiful smile." She smiled reassuringly at her love and then teased, "It is your fault she likes black jelly beans, that's a learned trait and really gross."

That did make Sam smile a bit and she relaxed a little but she still sighed. "Learning to deal with having powers was hard on me, Alex, and I was a fully grown adult. I can't imagine dealing with it at her age."

"You were also dealing with having powers after being Reign." Alex said honestly. "That added a lot to your process, Sam. You were really reluctant, but Ruby isn't. Yes, she's upset about having to give up sports for now, but she'll get over that a lot easier than you getting over what happened as Reign."

Sam thought about that for a little while and then reluctantly nodded. "I suppose you have a point."

Alex smiled reassuringly again. "Kara was around her age when she was learning to deal with her powers, and she'll be there for Ruby."

Ruby did eventually get over having to give up playing sports. Especially after she broke Alex's pinkie tossing her a can of soda, and ripping the door of her mom's SUV off getting groceries out of the back. Not to mention the crushed cells phones and countless number of crushed game controllers and remote controls. Getting to spend more time at the DEO with Kara and Alex helped soothe the sting of losing her favorite activities. Kara was really patient with her, and always made training fun. She loved training with her mom too but her mom always added a bit of seriousness to their training sessions that came from her being the mom.

Sam wasn't a full time superhero like Kara but she always stepped up when she was needed, when becoming Astra was the right thing to do. Even before she discovered she was Kryptonian Sam tried to teach Ruby the importance of doing the right thing. Even if the right thing wasn't the easy thing. So when she saw two of her friends being picked on Ruby felt the need to step in and help. Having powers had given her a little more confidence these days, so stepping in didn't come with any hesitation.

"Knock it off, Todd." Ruby said as she put herself between the larger boy and the pair he was bullying. "Leave 'em alone."

"Oh look." Todd said as he glared at Ruby. "Heather has two mommies is sticking up for the little twinkle toes pansy and the freak who thinks he's a girl." He stepped closer to Ruby as he continued, "Why don't you mind your own business, Arias."

Ruby looked right into the boy's hazel eyes and said, "What's going on in your life, Todd, that is so bad the only way to make yourself feel better is to pick on people?"

Todd blinked, not expecting what was said. "Huh?"

"Who's your bully, Todd?" Ruby asked him. "Overbearing parent? Absent parent? Abusive parent? Neglectful parent?" Ruby's voice was gentle and she spoke at soft volume. She wasn't trying to embarrass him, just get the boy to back off. "Or is it yourself? What's the matter Todd? Are you bullying them as a way to distance yourself from dealing with something about yourself?"

She saw the punch coming and reacted with quick reflexes. Ruby caught Todd's fist in her hand, then used her enhanced speed and strength to twist his arm behind his back while spinning him to face the other way. With a careful nudge from her knee, she caused his to buckle. "The thing about being a bully, Todd, is that eventually you're going to come across someone who isn't afraid of you, and once everyone else sees that you're nothing more than a dick who throws punches at girls because you have the emotional IQ of a toddler throwing a tantrum, they're not going to be afraid of you either." She had to be mindful of her strength. She didn't want to hurt him badly, just enough to take away some of his power as a bully. "You should really ask Mrs. Alvarez about the anti-bullying and teen talk programs."

"Miss Arias. Mr. Frye." Mister Roosevelt the science teacher called out. "What is going on here?"

They sat in silence as Sam drove back towards L-Corp. She'd been in a meeting with the company's lawyers about the finer legal details of Lena's newest philanthropic initiative when she'd gotten the call from Ruby's school. As much as Sam liked the head of legal, working with lawyers always set her on edge and getting a call about her daughter getting into a fight at that moment had just made a tense day more tense. When Sam stopped at a redlight she finally let out the breath she'd been holding and said, "I can't believe you got into a fight at school."

"It wasn't a fight." Ruby replied while staring out the window. "He threw a punch at me and I stopped him from breaking his stupid hand."

"You could have dislocated his shoulder, Ruby." Sam pointed out.

"I was careful." Ruby replied. Turning to look at her mother once the car was in motion again she said, "I couldn't let him keep picking on Adam and Sky. Especially since the only reason he bullies them is because Adam is gay and Sky identifies as a girl, and because I have two moms."

That made Sam turn to look at her for a moment. Ruby had never mentioned being picked on because of her and Alex before. She frowned as she returned her attention to driving.

Ruby continued, "I mean, pretty much everyone I love is gay or bi. You, Alex, Aunt Lena, Aunt Kara, and probably Winn too because he seriously turns into a thirsty queen whenever Superman comes to town."

"Ruby!" Sam scolds as she glances over at her daughter.

Ruby blinks. "What?" When her mother sighs Ruby asks, "Are you really mad at me for sticking up for my friends?"

"No." Sam answers. "No, Ruby, I'm not mad at you for sticking up for your friends. I'm actually really proud of you. A lot of kids your age would have just ignored it and walked away because they're afraid to get involved."

"Then why are you mad?" Ruby asked as she watched her mother's profile.

"I'm not mad, Rubes." Sam turned to look at her daughter at the next red light. "Not really, though I'm not thrilled I had to leave work to pick you up because you've been sent home."

Ruby bit her lip and said, "You're upset because of my powers."

"Things could have happened so differently, Rubes." Sam sighed. "So yeah, I guess I am."

"I was careful." Ruby promised. "I'm always really careful at school, Mom. I'm not going to risk exposing my powers. That'll just make it harder to have a secret identity when I join the family business."

Sam groaned inwardly. "Family business?"

Ruby shot her a beaming smile. "Yeah, becoming a superhero!"

Sam really didn't know how she felt about Ruby wanting to become a superhero. She didn't like the idea of her baby girl going out there and facing off with the kinds of things she and Kara faced when they went out in capes. They were invulnerable, but not invincible. She'd been hurt before, and so had Kara, badly. Sam didn't think she could handle seeing Ruby getting hurt like that. "We're not even having that conversation right now, Ruby. We don't even know the full range of your powers yet."

"I bet they'll be a lot like Conner's." Ruby said. "And you know there's this teenage boy in Gotham…"

"Gotham is full of nuts." Sam said, cutting off her daughter's argument. "And whoever is letting that boy zipline around that city is the biggest of them all."

Ruby was a smart, empathic kid who listened when the adults in her life told her things. So she listened to Kara when she told her how scary it was when her sense powers kicked in. How overwhelming it was to be bombarded by so many sounds and quick changes in her vision. She remembered the days following her mother's release from the DEO after she'd been cured of the Reign virus, and how Sam had struggled with the sensory overload. So Ruby assumed she would be ready for it. She wasn't.

The gentle soothing sound of the shower and soft music playing from the bluetooth speaker was forcefully drowned out by so many sounds that Ruby was forced to cover her ears. A lawn mower, a barking dog, an alarm clock, the rattling of chains, car horns, motorcycles, a clock ticking, sirens, and voices, so many voices, all pressed against Ruby like a physical force until she was on her knees in the shower. There was a cry of pain but there was so much noise she couldn't be sure it had come from her or not. Then there was a thunderous pounding.

"Ruby?" Sam called through the bathroom door. "Ruby are you alright?" When there wasn't an immediate response Sam opened the door and stepped in. She rushed over to the shower and her heart stopped at the sight of her little girl hunched into a ball with her hands over her ears. "Ruby?" She said gently as she reached into the shower to turn the water off. "Baby?"

"Loud!" Ruby yelled, unable to control her own volume because she couldn't connect being alone with her mother in the bathroom with all the noise. "So loud! Mommy! It's to loud!"

"I know baby." Sam said as she grabbed a huge fluffy towel and wrapped it around her daughter as she helped Ruby get to her feet and out of the shower. "Try to focus just on the sound of my voice, Ruby. I know it isn't easy but I need you to focus. Picture it like trying to find a red ball in a ball pit full of blue ones. Or think of it like scrolling or swiping through pictures until you find the one you're looking for."

While she spoke Sam led Ruby to her room and helped her sit on the edge of her bed. She kept talking, soft and gentle, placing her hands over Ruby's and watching as her daughter's body slowly began to relax. When Ruby was able to finally pull her hands away from her ears and look up at her mother she had tears in her eyes, and that broke Sam's heart. Wrapping her arms around her little girl Sam held her close and tight. "It's alright baby, it's ok, it gets easier I promise."

X-Ray vision wasn't nearly as scary but it was freaky as hell, not to mention slightly scaring. Ruby had decided that with her sense powers kicking in that going to family game night at her Aunts' penthouse was a much better idea than hanging out with friends. She was sitting on the sofa with her mother watching Kara trying to prevent Alex from successfully pulling the giant jenga block from the tower when there was sharp flash in her vision and suddenly all she could see were skeletons. She sat up suddenly, blinking and rubbing at her eyes.

"Rubes?" Alex asked, noticing the teen's reaction.

Ruby groaned softly. "You all look really freaky right now." She said as she looked at the people around her. When she looked over at her Aunt Lena it took several seconds for her to realize what she was looking at. There were two small metal bars at chest level and little S shield at belly button level. Ruby's eyes went wide. "Aunt Lena!" She gasped. "Well, that's unexpected."

"What?" Alex asked.

Sam laughed. "Ruby just discovered the remains of Aunt Lena's rebellious youth."

Lena blushed profusely.

Kara had taken a seat beside Ruby. "It'll pass, Ruby. Deep breaths, try blinking rapidly a couple of times."

After a few moments and a lot of blinking Ruby sighed softly. "That wasn't so bad. Though I could have done without knowing my sweet Aunt Lena has nip..."

Kara clamped a hand over Ruby's mouth. "You saw nothing."

Heat vision hadn't been to bad the first time. That had come following a headache so painful Sam had taken her to the DEO. Kara remembered the headaches she use to get and was able to predict what was about to happen so she and Ruby hung out in the gym where they watched a scary movie to trigger the first blast. It was the thought of an accidental blast that scared Ruby. She didn't want to hurt anyone or destroy anything, but her mom and Kara helped her through that too.

Sam watched Ruby from the corner of her eye and smiled. It hadn't been an easy year and half for her daughter. Having her powers manifest and dealing with all the change that had brought with it, all the pain it had caused her at times, had started to take its toll on Ruby. It wasn't easy being a fifteen year old girl, it really wasn't easy being a fifteen year old girl with super powers. But the look of sheer unadulterated joy on her daughter's face as they flew together over the treetops let Sam know that everything Ruby had gone through was worth it to her girl.

"Ruby." Sam called out to the girl flying beside her. "Bring your left arm closer to your body in this turn or you're…" Sam flinched as she stopped and floated midair. "Going to crash into the trees." She floated over to where her daughter had crashed and waited for the girl to emerge. She smirked at Ruby as she said, "You know there is a reason Kara and I wear capes."

Ruby huffed as she picked leaves and twigs from her hair. "In the words of the great Edna E Mode, no capes!"

Alex was sitting on the porch of Lena's cabin when Sam and Ruby landed. They'd needed some time away to just be a family and with Ruby's newest, and according to her the best, power kicking in they figured borrowing Lena's out in the middle of nowhere cabin would be perfect, despite the fact that she and Sam both preferred actual camping with tents and sleeping bags. "How'd it go?"

Ruby came up the stairs and plopped down beside Alex on the swing. "Stupid trees coming out of nowhere."

Alex laughed as she put her arm around Ruby. "We're in the woods, Rubes."

Sam joined her girlfriend and daughter on the swing, sitting on Alex's other side with a sigh. "You get to teach her how to drive."

"Went that well huh?" Alex chuckled. This for her was heaven. Just spending time with her girls with no worries or concerns beyond whatever happens within the next hour or what's for dinner. Life hadn't given them as many of these moments as she would have liked lately so she was going to soak in every second.

"I didn't do to badly." Ruby huffed.

"Other than crashing into the treetops everytime we made a wide turn." Sam huffed back.

They were both smiling so Alex knew the huffing was playful. "Well, how about we forget about flying for now and go swimming instead?"

Ruby jumped to her feet with a beaming smile. "Last one in, is rotten kryptonite!"

Sam had promised they would have the superhero sidekick talk after her sixteenth birthday. That had been a month ago and her mother was still avoiding having that promised chat. Ruby understood that her mother didn't like the idea and that she was worried and afraid that Ruby would get hurt, but that didn't make it any less frustrating for Ruby. Alex wasn't much help in the matter. She was just as leery about Ruby coming out as a superhero as her other mother was. Her Aunt Kara was at least willing to talk about it and had promised to talk to Sam and Alex on her behalf.

Sitting on the sofa absentmindedly eating slices of pizza while reading over her history homework with the tv on in the background for noise Ruby's head snapped up when the teen drama she was watching was interrupted by a breaking news story. Her heart stopped as she watched the live feed of the fight between Supergirl, Astra, and a man in a black suit with a green glowing crystal S shield on his chest. Ruby could see something green and glowly spiderwebbed over her mother's skin and she gasped as Astra went down, struggling in pain.

Ruby didn't even think twice. She used her superspeed to run up to her parents' bedroom and started rummaging through Alex's work clothes. She pulled on a pair of cargo pants and Alex's old boots. Then she ran to her room to dig out the black t-shirt with her mother's crest on it that she bought because it made Sam roll her eyes that Astra had merch. She pulled her hair into a ponytail and slapped on an old halloween mask to conceal her eyes and flew out the window.

It took everything in Sam not to scream out her daughter's name as she watched Ruby fly fist first into the latest augmented CADMUS foot soldier. She struggled against the pain caused by the green kryptonite S on his chest as she tried to get to Ruby. What was she doing here? What the hell did she think she was doing? And how the hell was she fighting him so easily?

"Another one." The CADMUS agent growed as he staggered back from a punch.

Ruby smirked before blowing ice under his feet to make it harder for him to get up. "I know right? Every time you haters try taking out one of us another pops up. Must be super annoying."

Alex watched from the premirter. Like Sam she was a mix of panic, fear, anger, and confusion over the sudden appearance of their teenage daughter. But that didn't stop her from accessing the new situation, and taking note of the fact that Ruby didn't seem affected by the kryptonite at all. She groaned softly at the banter and rolled her eyes before saying loud enough to be heard by super hearing, "Rip the crest of his chest and being it to me, kid."

Ruby smiled and nodded. "You know, that symbol has meaning, it's scared, not to mention trademarked, and I'm pretty sure you weren't given permission to wear it. So I'm just gonna go ahead and remove it for you." She blocked his punch while reaching out to take hold of the crystal crest and ripped it from the suit with ease. It burned a little in her hand but it was bearable. "Now I'll just leave you to your previous dance partners. Have fun!"

Alex was shaking her head when Ruby landed in front of her. She took the kryptonite S from the girl while saying, "You are so grounded!"

Ruby frowned. "I had to help!"

"I'm not yelling at you right now." Alex told her as she pointed a finger at the girl. "I'm going to wait for your mother so we can yell at you together!"

And yell they did while Alex ran tests to see why Ruby didn't react to kryptonite the way most Kryptontains did. She and Lena came to the conclusion that it was because Ruby had been born on Earth and never exposed to the atmosphere of Krypton, unlike Kara, Sam and Clark.

"Ruby!" Sam said with frustration. "You had no reason to think you'd be any safer from the kryptonite than Kara or me! You put yourself at risk!"

"Yes I did!" Ruby argued back. "Because my family needed me! I had to help! I had to try and protect you or save you! You'd have thrown yourself into danger for me!"

"Because I'm your mother!" Sam yelled.

"That's a bullshit excuse!" Ruby shot back.

"Ruby!" Sam growled in warning.

"No." Ruby said firmly. "You don't get to play the because I'm the mom card on this one. You being the mom and me being the kid doesn't mean I don't love you any less or want to keep you safe any less. You and me have always been in this together, Mom. Why should this part of our life be any different? Stronger together, remember? I'm not asking to do this like some kind of part time job or anything, I'm asking not to be left on the sidelines when I can help."

Silence fell in the room for a long time before Alex said, "It wouldn't take much to shift her training from just mastering her powers to training her to be out there in the field as support for you and Kara."

Sharp brown eyes shot up to look at Alex with a momentary look of betrayal before Sam realized Alex was right. Ruby was to much like her to let this drop. She knew deep down that her kid would just keep popping up and throwing herself into dangerous situations whether she liked it or not. "Fine." She finally said while throwing her hands up in frustration. Then she turned that sharp gaze on Ruby. "But you will do everything Alex, Kara and I tell you, Ruby. You will not argue, you will not go behind our backs, or this ends before it starts. Am I clear?"

"Yes Mom." Ruby said trying to hold back her smile because she knew her mother wasn't done yet.

Her heart hadn't stopped pounding in her chest and realizing what she was agreeing to wasn't helping. Sam sighed deeply trying to shake off her fear and anger. She looked right into her daughter's eyes as she said, "I haven't spanked you in years, Ruby, but I swear to Rao if you ever pull anything like tonight again…"

"I won't!" Ruby sore quickly. "I promise!"

"Don't make promises you can't keep, kid." Alex advised. Then she smiled, hoping to defuse the situation a little. "Are you wearing my clothes?"

Ruby beamed. "I kind of have a look in mind."

Sam just groaned and shook her head. When Alex walked over and put her arm around her it helped a lot to settle her emotions. "I suppose you'll need a name." Ruby was looking at her with such bright excited eyes how could she not agree to all of this? So against her better judgement as a mother who just wanted to keep her kid safe and sound she said, "Alright Astra Girl, we'll do this, but consider yourself on probation."

Ruby flew off the exam table she'd been sitting on while her moms had yelled at her to crush them both in a hug. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I won't let you down I promise."


	8. Chapter 8

Sitting on the sofa folding laundry Sam listened to the talking heads on the cable news channel she couldn't be bothered to change. She'd started watching for the unbiased straight forward financial news since it was a rare Saturday morning where she actually had control over the television, but they had moved on to more topical issues while she'd gone to switch out loads in the basement. As she added to the growing pile of freshly washed and folded panties belonging to herself and Alex she snorted as she listened to the loud mouth on her big screen.

"The FDA cannot allow this dangerous procedure to move forward." The middle aged man with the receding hairline said.

The host looked down at his notes and replied, "So far this new procedure hasn't been…"

"It's dangerous to the very fabric of our society!" The man cut in. "It's feminazis like Lena Luthor who are going to cause the very downfall of everything we hold dear in this country!"

The woman on the panel snorted. "You're not worried about the country, you're afraid that if this new fertility treatment developed by L-Corp is approved by the FDA it will make pigheaded misogynists like you obsolete."

Following that there was a lot of talking over each other and Sam could only make out a few key phrases like against nature, against God, and radical lesbian agenda from the man and conservative status quo and heteronormative propaganda from the woman.

"Babe." Alex's voice called out as she entered the room with their toddler niece on her hip. Reaching for the remote to shut the tv off she teased, "You might want to blink a few times before you blast our tv with heat vision."

It wasn't until Alex had said something that Sam felt the gentle burn in her eyes that signaled a heat vision build up. "Shit." She closed her eyes until the feeling passed and then looked up at her girlfriend and the aborale tiny wide eyed blonde on her hip. They were watching Kara and Lena's kids for the long weekend so the couple could spend some much needed time alone at Lena's cabin. "They were talking about Lena and the fertility treatment based on the one that gave us that little bean."

"Lena said she expected a lot of backlash and resistance." Alex said while rubbed her nose against Alexis' little nose. "She said men would freak out at first because they saw it as a threat."

"She was right." Sam replied as she watched her girlfriend with the baby. She smiled at the way Alex gently tickled Alexis' tummy to make her giggle. The way she gently swayed on her feet as if she were unaware she was even moving. Standing, Sam abandoned the rest of her folding to be closer to the pair. She put her arm around Alex's wasit while tucking a strand of blonde hair behind the baby's ear. "Don't tell your mommy this but she's right a lot and it's annoying as hell. You'll learn that soon enough, baby bean."

Alexis giggled at the tone of her aunt's voice and that made Alex's face light up. Sam took notice and it made her smile. Alex had always been amazing with Ruby, right from the start, from the very moment they meet at the Supergirl statue unveiling. But there was just something about seeing Alex with a baby and four year old Andrew that did something to Sam's insides. At first it was like someone striking flint in the dark, a spark that lasted only a fraction of a second, but recently it felt as if maybe one of those sparks had landed on something and was smoldering.

"If we're taking them to the park this afternoon I should get the little man up from his nap." Alex said as she held the baby out to Sam. When she looked into her girlfriend's eyes she caught the flicker of something that made her smile though she wasn't sure what that was. "What?"

Sam shook her head and smiled. "Nothing." Her smile brightened as she took the baby from her girlfriend and cuddled her close, taking a deep breath to get a good whiff of baby smell. "Why do babies smell so good when they're basically poop machines."

Alex laughed, kissed Sam's cheek and then Alexis', and then went back upstairs to get Anderew up from his nap.

She watched Alex walk away until she felt a gentle tap on her cheek and then Sam turned her full attention on Alexis. Once her own warm brown eyes were locked with Alexis' bright green ones the baby looked up towards the ceiling as she babbles incoherently. Sam looked up but didn't see anything. "What baby bean?" Alexis repeated the looking up and even lifting her little hand up before Sam clued in and it made her laugh. "Oh, I think I know what you want."

Alexis was getting older and they were trying not do this as much but she was just too damn cute to say no too. Sam listened to make sure Alexis was busy upstairs and then smiled at Alexis as she slowly lifted off the floor. "I'm not suppose to fly with you anymore, young lady. Your moms don't want you and your brother to know that your Mama, Ruby and I have powers. You're going to get me in so much trouble if we ever get caught."

"Hey babe," Alex called out as she helped Andrew down the stairs. There was a soft thump from the living room that kind of sounded like someone falling onto the sofa rather than sitting on it and for a moment she wondered if Ruby was home. When she walked into the room Sam was the only one sitting on the sofa with Alexis standing on her thighs while Sam held her torso. Alex raised an eyebrow. "Everything ok?"

"Everything's fine." Sam replied with a smile. "Did you need something? That hey babe sounded like the start of a question."

Alex blinked and then nodded. "Have you seen Drew's shoes?"

Sam sat Alexis on her lap as Andrew crawled up onto the sofa to sit beside her, knocking over her neatly folded laundry as he did so. "Check the kitchen." She told Alex before smiling at their nephew. "Did you have a good nap, bean?"

Andrew nodded as he snuggled into his aunt's side. He liked to cuddle after waking up and Sam was more then willing to give him what he wanted. "Can I take my bike to the park, Aunt Sam?"

"Of course you can." Sam replied.

Despite the fact that by Sunday night they were both exhausted it was one of the best weekends they'd had in a long time. It was nice chasing after the kids, reading to them, singing to them, playing games with them and snuggling with them. Alex knew Sam was an incredible mother but Ruby was twelve when they'd come into their lives, it was a nice change to see Sam covered in rice cereal and bananas while making a peanut butter and banana sandwich while telling Andrew not to give his legos to the baby. It was also kind of hot watched Sam walk around with a baby on her hip while picking up toys, handing crayons to Andrew, and never skipping a beat while on a work call.

Old feelings and desires bubbled up in Alex's chest over the weekend that she wasn't sure how to address with Sam. Her mind kept flickering back to when Ruby had mentioned how they should have a baby together and how Sam had choked on her wine at the suggestion. Alex hadn't been sure if that reaction was from the suddenness of the comment or the absurdity of it. Sam had had a baby, raised that baby, and was nearing the finish line with that baby. She was in a place where she could finally focus on herself, her career, and her relationships. For the first time since she was sixteen Sam could be the center of Sam's world. Who was Alex to ask her to start all over again with another baby.

Slipping into bed Alex smiled as she felt Sam's arm wrap around her and pull her close. Closing her eyes as the familiar sensation of Sam's breath washed over her ear, Alex sighed softly. "Listen to that." She paused a moment. "Silence."

Sam hummed an bit her lip and held Alex a little tighter as her train of thought went crashing through any blockaides she might have thrown up. "I want a baby."

"What?" Alex squeaked as she shifted in Sam's arms so she was laying on her back and looking up at her girlfriend.

"I know it sounds crazy." Sam said quickly. "But watching you this weekend with Andrew and Alexis, spending time with them and doing all the things I miss doing now that Ruby's nearly grown." Sam groaned softly as she bared her face in the crook of Alex's neck. "I guess all those baby snuggles reset my biological clock or something."

Alex reached for Sam so she could look into her eyes. Dark brown gazed into soft brown for a long time before Alex saw what she needed to see and she smiled. "It's not crazy. I was actually thinking the same thing."

"Really?" Sam replied with a flicker of hope.

"Really." Alex laughed and nodded her head. "I think we should talk about it. We're both still on a baby high right now so lets see if it fades while we talk it through."

Sam's smile was raidernet and then she was kissing Alex with such love and passion it took both of their breaths away.

The feelings didn't fade. In fact the more they talked about it the more they both wanted to do it. Sam loved being a mother and wanted a second chance at it. She wanted to do it with the person she loved this time. She wouldn't trade the life she'd had with Ruby for anything, don't get her wrong, but how could she not want to have this experience with the woman she loved by her side. Alex felt the same way. She loved the time she'd been blessed with to be Ruby's other mom, but she wanted to experience it all from the very beginning. She wouldn't admit it to anyone but herself but she'd been jealous of her sister. Even before Alexis was born Kara had been able to be in Andrew's life from the moment he was born. Alex wished she could have had that with Ruby but she couldn't. Now she and Sam had the opportunity to have a child of their own, to be there form the start together, and Alex wanted that more and more with each passing day.

"Are you sure you're ok with this?" Alex asked while she and Sam cuddled on the sofa with glasses of wine while listening to their favorite playlist and unwinding from a long week.

"I'm sure baby." Sam said with a nod while letting her fingers play with the clipper short hairs at the back of Alex's neck. "I've already been pregnant. That experience is all yours."

It would mean being taken off active duty which meant she wouldn't be able to be hands on when it came to watching her sister's back. It wasn't as if Alex didn't trust the team they had built around Supergirl, but as Kara's big sister it was her responsibility above all others to keep Kara safe. She and Lena still butted heads over that sometimes. Lena, being Kara's wife, had the silly notion that it was up to her to keep Kara safe. But Alex would have to step back and let Lena and the others step in when she got pregnant, and that wouldn't be easy for her. It would be worth it when she and Sam had their baby in their arms, but it wouldn't be easy.

"You won't have to worry about Kara." Sam said softly. "You will, but you won't have too." She smiled knowingly at the woman she loved. "I'll be there to back Supergirl up, and so will Lena, J'onn, and Winn, and Ruby."

Alex tried her best to relax when it came to being sidelined but she'd been taking care of Kara for so long it was second nature for her. Deciding that she needed to get her mind off the topic for now she decided to tease her girlfriend. Taking Sam's wine glass from her hand she set it as well as her own on the coffee table before throwing her leg over Sam's lap to straddle her. "I think you Kryptonians like having your Earth women barefoot and pregnant."

Sam smiled as she looked up at Alex. Her hands easily slipped under her girlfriend's t-shirt and she ran them up Alex's back. "Oh we do." She teased back. "It's all part of our master plan for world domination. We find the sexiest most beautiful badass women and we fall in love with them, and then we make incredibly adoreable babies with them."

Alex held Sam's face in her hands as she leaned in close to kiss her. The kiss was slow and full of promise. She let her hands get lost in Sam's hair as she felt Sam's hands slide over her skin as they moved from her back, across her ribs, and up to her breasts. She moaned as Sam squeezed, then whimpered when Sam pulled out of their kiss. Before she had a chance to voice her complaints over the broken kiss she felt Sam's mouth on the top of her right breast, and moaned at the pull of skin as Sam sucked. There would be a mark there when Sam was finished and Alex was more than ok with that. She actually really liked the way it made her feel to walk around with Sam's mark somewhere on her body, it was comforting in a way Alex couldn't quite explain.

Of course its while Sam's mouth is attached to Alex's breast that Ruby comes home. She rolls her eyes at the sight of them but there's a faint smile on her lips as she calls out, "Get a room!"

Sam pulls away from Alex to reply, "I have a whole house I don't need to get a room."

Ruby groans because she's a teenager and that's what's expected of her and then retreats to her own room to give her mothers their privacy back.

"Maybe we should take this to our room?" Alex says as she looks down at Sam with a bit of a blush.

"Good idea." Sam replies and with her superspeed carries Alex to their room. When she lays Alex on their bed they're both naked and it makes Alex laugh. That laugh fades into another moan when Sam began kissing warm flushed skin.

With the decision made the couple approached Lena to ask if she would do it. While Lena had handed over the basics to the appropriate researchers at L-Corp for human applications of the procedure, they would need to keep this one in house because of Sam's alien biology. Of course Lena joyously agreed. "Kara's going to love this. She's going to melt into an emotional puddle at the idea of your baby and ours growing up together the way you two should have."

Sam smiled warmly at that. "Yeah, I know, that thought had crossed my mind too."

It took about a month for the first viable embryo to be produced and nearly six weeks for the second after the first implantation failed. Alex had worried that she'd done something wrong the first time, and Sam was afraid that there had been lingering issues with her genetics following the Reign virus. It wasn't an easy time for either of them and at times they struggled not to push the other away. Lena and Paige, the same DEO doctor that had overseen Lena's pregnancy and delivery, did their best to reassure the couple that the majority of couples have to try treatments more than once before their successful. They reassured Alex that it wasn't her fault and told Sam that her genetics were just fine. But the fear and concern, the anxiety and the walking on eggshells around each other lingered until Sam was awoken from her restless sleep by the sound of Alex being sick in the bathroom.

Morning sickness didn't last long and hadn't seemed to be triggered by anything more than just Alex waking up. Be it first thing in the morning or after a nap, as soon as her eyes were open she was rushing off to a bathroom. Since fatigue was a big part of the first trimester there had been plenty of times when Alex would doze off and more than once she'd nearly hurled all over Winn when he made the mistake of waking her at her desk. When the strange food cravings hit, Alex could often be found dipping doritos in nutella, cheetos in mayo, and fritos in grape jelly.

Sam had been so young and alone when she'd had Ruby. She'd worked a part time job while finishing school and lived in a shithole room in a pay by the week motel until she could get government assistance and a voucher for a tiny one bedroom apartment. Ruby slept in an old crib Sam had found at a flea market on a new twenty dollar mattress and three dollar sheets with yellow ducks and green frogs on them from Walmart. Her high chair, car seat, and stroller,had come from the thrift store where Sam had worked. There were weeks when Sam lived off bologna sandwiches and cereal because Ruby needed diapers or medicine or something else not covered by wic. When Sam had Ruby there hadn't been an extra room to turn into a nursery or family and friends to throw a baby shower.

Standing in the nursery taking in the warm gray walls, the white wood furniture, the pink and gray elephant themed bedding and decor, and the giant letter M light on the wall Sam felt a painful tightening in her chest. She put her hand on the plush gray armchair to support herself as her soft brown eyes took everything in and her fingers fisted into the soft quilt that Eliza had given them. Her eyes burned with tears as she took in the painting Kara had done for them, and the shelves full of books from Lena. They had everything they could ever need for a baby and then some. Their little peanut would want for nothing, ever.

Then Sam's gaze caught sight of something yellow in the crib. She walked over to get a better look and nearly choked on her sob. With a trembling hand she reached for the old well loved yellow duck. It had cost Sam five dollars at the dollar store at Easter time and it had been the best five dollars spent because Ruby had loved him so much. No matter where Sam's choices took them in life, where her struggles led them, how bad things were, how good they were, the one thing Ruby always had was her duck. Sam clutched the toy to her chest as she backed up until she was sitting on the arm of the chair and then there was no stopping the sobs.

"Mom?" Ruby said softly as she stepped into the room cautiously. When she saw her mother shaking with sobs she rushed to her instantly. "Mom? What's wrong?" When she saw what her mother was holding she teased, "Aww, geesh, did I make you ugly cry by putting Quackers in the baby's crib?"

Sam finally looked up and into her daughter's eyes at that. Reaching out with her free hand she cupped Ruby's cheek and ran her thumb over her cheekbone. "I wish I could have done all of this for you."

Ruby blinked. "What?" The sixteen year old looked into her mother's eyes for a long time before she realized what was happening in Sam's head. "Mom, no, don't do that. Yeah, sometimes life got tough back then and yeah we struggled, but I had a great childhood because I had you, we had each other."

"I still wish…" Sam began but Ruby shook her head as she took her mother's hands into her own.

"I wouldn't change any of it." Ruby told her. "Not a single thing because what if just one little thing had been different and we never ended up in National City, and we never met Alex, then we wouldn't be here now. I wouldn't have two amazing moms or a baby sister on the way. I wouldn't get to look across the living room and see my hero look so happy because she has someone like Alex to love and be loved by, that it makes me happy. You're always telling me that all you want for me is happiness and a wonderful life full of everything I could ever want. Well, that's what I want for you too, and Alex is your happiness and the baby is the start of something wonderful for our family. Don't feel bad or guilty or whatever because this time is different. You've worked really damn hard to get here, Mom, it should be different, and different doesn't mean better, it just means different."

Sam sniffled softly as she continued to look into her daughter's eyes. "When did you get so smart and grownup?"

"About three minutes ago when I saw my mom crying over an old duck." Ruby answered with a warm smile. Reaching up Ruby wiped the tears from her mother's cheeks and teased, "Seriously Mom, I thought Alex was meant to be the emotional wreck with all those baby hormones wreaking havoc on her."

"Sympathy mood swings." Sam said with a chuckle before standing and pulling Ruby into her arms. "I love you, Rubes."

"I love you too, Mom." Ruby replied as she hugged her mother back just as tight.

Alex was just as comfortable in her medbay as she was in her living room so she'd opted to have the baby at the DEO. In fact, being surrounded by medical equipment was comforting to Alex in ways that being at home just couldn't be. They weren't expecting any trouble but one just never knew even in this day and age when something would go wrong. She tried to remember what Sam, Lena and her mother had told her about what it felt like to go into labor, but every woman's experience was different so it took a couple of contractions before she realized what was happening. Reaching for Sam beside her Alex gently shook her until she heard a soft moan of protest from her girlfriend. "Sam." She said softly, drawing the other woman further out of sleep. "Babe, wake up."

Sam moaned. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, babe." Alex reassured. "But I think I'm having contractions."

Warm brown eyes were suddenly wide open and Sam was sitting up instantly. "What? Are you sure?"

Alex nodded. "They're not close together but they are pretty strong."

"Ok." Sam said as she did her best to temper her urge to become a cliche and panic. "Do you want to go to the DEO now or wait?"

"I think we have time." Alex said after a moment of thought.

Sam leaned close and pressed her forehead against Alex's as she said, "Ok. Ok, but I'm going to call Paige and let her know. Do you want to wake your Mom and Ruby?"

Alex shook her head. "Not yet."

Everything went perfectly. They got to the DEO with plenty of time to settle Alex into the room set up just for the delivery and recovery. Sam stayed with her while her family came and went, but stuck close by. Kara was so excited that Alex could only take her in small doses which made her sister pout and their mother laugh. Alex had felt a lot of different kinds of physical pains in her lifetime but nothing compared to having her insides violently rioting against her while her body tried to expel the tiny trespasser who'd taken up residence the last nine months. During one particularly strong contraction Alex growled, "Now I understand why Lena wanted that kryptonite dagger."

When it was finally time to start pushing Alex held Sam's hand and Sam pressed her forehead against Alex's temple as she whispered engagement and love into her ear. Then everything happened so fast that Sam couldn't quite keep up. Paige announced the baby was almost here, Alex pushed and pushed and pushed, and then the room filled with a beautiful strong cry. "You did it, Alex! She's here! Oh, baby, you did it, I love you so much!"

A perfectly healthy little baby girl wrapped in a little white blanket was placed in Sam's arms. She looked down into her daughter's face and had to blink away tears to see her clearly. Her little eyes were scrunched closed, her little arms tucked in close to her chest, her hands fisted tight, and her little head covered in wisps of dark hair. She was beautiful and looked as if she were ready for a fight, just like her mama. Sam was so focused on the baby that she missed the change in Paige's voice. It wasn't until she looked up to place the baby in Alex's arms that she noticed Alex looked pale. A distant voice said something about getting her and the baby out of the room, but Sam was to focused on Alex. "Alex?" She said softly. Something was wrong. "Alex? Baby?"

"Get them out of here!" Paige ordered.

Sam looked towards their friend and doctor and she gasped. So much red. Red. Blood. So much blood. Someone took hold of her shoulders and guided Sam out of the room and into the hall. The door clicked loudly, at least to her super hearing, behind them. Standing in the hallway with her newborn baby in her arms Sam stared at the closed door and blinked. "Alex? Baby?"

Eliza appeared beside her, then Kara, Lena. Slowly the world returned to a normal speed and Sam took a breath as she looked into the worried and frightened faces of her family. "I don't know what happened. I don't…"

"Kara, Lena." Eliza said as she looked at the two. "Get your sister and the baby somewhere more comfortable. I'm going to see what's going on with your other sister." She gave them all a firm comforting look. "It's going to be alright girls."

"Come on Sam." Kara said gently while trying to control her own fears. "Introduce us to this pretty little lady."

Alex had hemorrhaged. It had been scary as hell for everyone but as fast as it had happened Paige was just as fast to respond. When Sam, who had refused to let go of the baby, was finally allowed back in the room her knees had nearly gone weak at the sight of Alex so pale on the bed.

Eliza kept her arm around the younger woman. "She's just asleep, Sam. She's going to be fine."

Sam nodded. "I can hear her heart beating." It was just really rattling to see her strong girlfriend look so small and weak. Despite Sam being the one with superpowers, Alex was the one who always seemed indestructible. Walking over to the bed Sam brushed at Alex's hair and then placed their daughter on her love's chest before leaning close to place a kiss on Alex's lips.

All anyone knew was that the baby's first name began with the letter M. After Alex woke up, and Sam and Ruby spent some time with her and the baby as a family, the rest of their family were allowed in to see mother and child.

"Picking a name for a personal is hard." Alex told them. "Especially when you want the name to have meaning."

"We played around with a lot of names before we came up with the right one." Sam said with a warm smile.

"Maya." Alex told them as she looked down at her daughter's peaceful face and then up at her family. "For my Dad and J'onn." She told them and then explained. "Said in English J'onn's wife's name, M'yri'ah," Alex looked at the man who had become a father to her in the absence of her own. She could think of no better way to honor him and thank him for everything he'd done for her than by ensuring the memory of his lost wife live on in the ray of hope that was her child. "And the end of my Dad's name, Jeremiah, both sound close to Maya."

"And since we wanted to stick with names that honored people important to us." Sam continued. "Her middle name is Kieran."

"Kieran?" Eliza asked.

Lena had tears in her eyes and a blush in her cheeks as she softly admitted, "Is my middle name."

"If you hadn't brought me to National City I wouldn't have Alex." Sam said as she looked into her best friend's eyes. "And if you hadn't found a way to use alien tech and knowledge to create babies we wouldn't have Maya."

"And you make my sister incredibly stupidly happy." Alex added. "So there's that too."

Kara walked over to her sister's bedside and smiled down at the baby in her arms. Reaching out she offered her finger which the baby grasped. "Maya Kieran Arias-Danvers. Welcome to the family, little one." The baby made a soft squeak of a sound and Kara laughed. "Don't worry. You'll get use to us."


	9. Chapter 9

Sam had been promoted to Chief Operations Officer of L-Corp which meant the only person higher than her in the company was Lena. It also meant that she made more than a pretty penny, not that her lifestyle showed it. She and her family still lived in her upper middle class suburban home with a Lexus RX and a Subaru Legacy in the drive, both of which were far from new. The only things that could be called extravagant were the huge curved flat screen tv on her wall, and the motorcycles in her garage. They kept their electronics up to date and the kids wanted for nothing, but were far from spoiled. They lived comfortably but no where near how they could live given Sam's salary.

Then one afternoon while standing behind Alex as her girlfriend scrolled through a listing of rentals while she bounced their baby daughter on her hip Sam was struck with an idea. Whenever they wanted to get away from National City, from the DEO, from L-Corp, and just be a family, a couple, they went to the beach. They would surf and swim, they would spend nights around a fire, and mornings walking along the sand. So Sam's sudden idea really seemed like a good one. "We should just buy a beach house."

Alex turned in her chair to look at her girlfriend with a surprised look on her face. "What?"

"We should buy a beach house." Sam repeated while reaching for the squishy teething cupcake toy Maya liked best and handed it to her.

"Seriously?" Alex said as she began to smirk. "You want to buy a vacation home?"

Sam nodded as she slipped into the chair beside Alex at the table. "Sure, why not? We can afford it and it makes a lot of sense. We wouldn't have to spend days looking for a rental every time we wanted to go. Plus we wouldn't have to worry about things like what happened at the rental we had over Fourth of July."

Alex cringed at the memory. "The home porn setup."

"Yeah." Sam replied and then laughed when Maya threw a slobber covered squishy cupcake at her mama.

The redhead made a face when the toy hit her shoulder, leaving a wet spot, and then laughed as she handed the toy back to their baby girl. "Ok, let's look into it."

It was the fifth house they looked at that absolutely took their breaths away. It had a big beautiful open floor plan were the huge white kitchen with it's twin turquoise islands and dining nook gave way to a spacious living area seamlessly. Floor to ceiling windows let in not only lots of natural light but offered breathtaking views of the ocean and the private beach just beyond the large patio. The house had a master bedroom with bath, two other bedrooms, and a loft, as well as two and half more bathrooms. One of the other bedrooms had the cutest nautical themed bunk beds that would be perfect for Maya, Andrew and Alexis, while Ruby would absolutely fall in love with the loft. The backyard was insane with a tiki bar, fire pit, a pool with a small waterfall, hot tub, and stone grill. Sam had laughed at the way Alex's eyes had lit up. It was everything they wanted and more so they put in a bid that day.

There was something unbelievably hot about Sam when she was negotiating business and it wasn't just the tailored slacks, white tank top, and blazer with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows either. Though that always did Alex in. No, there was something just so breathtaking about the confidence in Sam, the light in her eyes as she raddled off numbers and figures, and how she refused to take no for an answer. There had been other offers on the house but by that afternoon the house was theirs at an incredible deal.

"You're amazing." Alex said as she walked up to Sam once they were alone. She slid her hands onto Sam's hips and pulled her close.

Sam laughed as she looked into Alex's darkened eyes. "Did I seriously turn you on talking about housing finance?"

"Yes." Alex answered before kissing her girlfriend with such desire she could have taken her right then and there.

"Baby." Sam whispered huskily as she broke the kiss. "Maybe we should wait until we officially own the house before we christen it."

Alex growled her frustration. "Fine. Let's go back to the hotel then."

The house didn't need a lot of work but it needed some, and they wanted to redecorate to fit their own tastes so it took a while after closing on the sale before the house was ready for them. The first weekend they spent there when it was finally ready they spent alone with just Maya for the first night because Ruby had a school event. It had been a wonderful day spent on the beach dipping their baby girl's feet into the warm ocean water and just generally enjoying their new retreat. While Maya had napped that afternoon Sam had watched Alex out on the water with her surfboard and it hit her just how much she loved the redhead and the life they'd built together. They had something special, something Sam had never had before, something she honestly never thought she would have. Even when they were fighting about something their relationship was in a place where they both could feel secure that no matter how long the fight lasted they would still be standing together at the end of it.

Alex felt it too. That rare and special something that weaved her life and Sam's together. She couldn't imagine her life without Sam in it moving forward and had a hard time remembering when she didn't wake up every morning wrapped in Sam's arms. It felt like another lifetime ago when Kara had so casually announced that she had invited a new friend to girl's night, and the pleasant surprise Alex had felt when she'd discovered it was the woman who'd made her kid apologize for bumping into her at the Supergirl statue unveiling. It seemed so surreal now, looking back at those moments, the way she'd been drawn to the tall brunette and her daughter sitting in the back of that ambulance wrapped in a blanket. Alex's life had been on a different course back then, and while she would always cherish and love her time with Maggie, it hadn't been the right course. Sam was her course in life. Sam was her guiding star.

Alex had grilled steaks on the stone barbecue in their backyard with the excitement of a child with a new toy, and after they'd put Maya to bed Sam had opened a bottle of good wine to celebrate their first night in their new beach house. She watched Alex as she stood on the patio looking out over the ocean as the sun slowly sank beneath the horizon and her heart swelled. Walking out onto the patio Sam set her glass of wine beside Alex's on the railing and then slid her arms around Alex's wasit. She rested her chin on the slightly shorter woman's shoulder and for a few minutes just drank in the solidness and warmth of her love's body against her own. Then she smiled and said, "Do you know what we should do with our little private beach?"

"I can think of a few things." Alex said with a smirk.

Sam chuckled and squeezed Alex as she said, "Not what I was thinking but keep those thoughts handy."

"What were you thinking?" Alex asked as she let her hand run up and down Sam's arm. She leaned back against the taller woman and sighed happily at the way it felt to be wrapped up by her like this.

Sam's heart was pounding in her chest and she wondered if Alex could feel it thundering against her back. They were so happy with their life together that a part of her was afraid to change things, but a much bigger part of her wanted something more. Taking a breath after releasing her lip from between her teeth Sam said, "I was thinking that it would be the perfect place to have a wedding."

Alex's heart stopped and for a moment she forgot how to breath. A wedding? The idea of marrying Sam had crossed her mind, Alex wouldn't deny that, but then she would be flooded with doubts. Doubts that didn't make any sense because it was unfair to compare her relationship with Sam to her relationship with Maggie, but no one ever said emotions had to make sense all the time. Alex swallowed against a suddenly dry thought when she felt Sam withdraw her arms from around her waist and take a step back. When she slowly turned to face her love Sam was standing there holding up a small velvet box which was open to reveal a rose gold engagement ring with a one carat white diamond accented by chocolate diamonds. Tears welled in Alex's dark eyes as her gaze flicked up from the ring to Sam's and she realized with a burst of warmth that the chocolate diamonds in the ring were the same shade as Sam's eyes.

"You came into my life during the darkest it has ever been. You offered me a lifeline, friendship, and gave me hope when I was more afraid than I have ever been in my life. Like Ruby, you became a light in the darkness I struggled to get to everytime I felt like I was doing to drown in the void of nothingness I was pushed into every time Reign took control." Sam was smiling as tears welled in her eyes. Reaching out with her free hand she cupped Alex's face and used her thumb to wipe away her tears. "You refused to give up on me after everything that had happened even when I'd wanted to give up on myself, and when things were better, when I was better, you were still there." Taking her hand from Alex's face she reached for her hand to hold in her own as she continued. "I don't know the exact moment I fell in love with you because it happened so naturally, but I remember the moment I realized I was in love with you. I was watching you at the DEO with a million other things swirling around in my head when the thought came so easily; the woman I love. I love you Alex. I love our life together, the family we've built together. And I know that sometimes you still worry, that sometimes you're afraid, that it will all crash and burn around you, but baby it won't. I'm not going anywhere."

"Sam." Alex whispered as she continued to look into Sam's eyes. She used those beautiful warm brown eyes like an anchor to keep her in the moment. Her head and heart were whipping around in a tornado as she listened to Sam speak and she didn't want to miss a word.

"Alex Danvers, will you marry me?" Sam said softly.

Alex began nodding because the lump in her throat was so huge it was hard to get the words out. The love and certainty in Sam's eyes and the conviction in her words burned away the lingering doubts that Alex had been carrying around. Finally she'd managed to swallow enough of the lump to say, "Yes, Sam, yes I'll marry you."

Sam finally let her tears flow as she pulled the ring from its box and slid it on Alex's finger before pulling the redhead into her arms and kissing her. The kiss was full of promises not only for a night to remember but for a lifetime to come.

The first ones to know were their daughters of course. They told Ruby the next day when she arrived at the beach house, and she'd been so excited about her moms finally getting married that she actually floated. Maya giggled and clapped her hands because the people she loved the most were just so happy she couldn't help but be excited by the news too. They swore Ruby to secrecy under the penalty of loss of driving and flying privileges. They both wanted something small and simple so they planned everything in secret with the intention of inviting everyone they loved up to the beach house under the guise of a house warming party weekend about a month after Sam asked Alex to marry her. Of course that meant Alex had to hide her engagement ring which wasn't easy because her sister was known for showing up suddenly and unexpectedly, but she managed.

In that month's time Alex had also scoured every jeweler in National City for the perfect ring for Sam. When she found it at a custom jewelers she'd used Lena's name to get an appointment with, it had taken her breath away as soon as he'd shown it to her. The diamond was inlaid in such a way that it looked like the heart of a star set in white gold. Alex's thoughts had instantly gone to how she felt Sam had become her guiding star in life, and she knew the ring was perfect. Sam had thought it was perfect too when Alex gave it to her one night while they sat on the back patio looking up at a surprisingly clear night sky.

It wasn't easy but with a little creative finesse Sam and Alex had managed to get everyone to the beach house the Friday before their surprise wedding. Once everyone was gathered together and was settled in with food and drinks and were relaxed and happy and laughing, Alex walked up to Sam and slid her arm around the slightly taller woman's waist. They shared a knowing smile and a soft kiss before Sam used her superspeed to slip their engagement rings on. Then she cleared her throat and called for everyone's attention.

"Alex and I just wanted to thank you all for coming down to spend the weekend with us, even if it's only for a few hours tonight and a few more tomorrow night." Sam smiled at their loved ones as her eyes gleamed with pending excitement. "It actually means more to us than you know, because to be honest with all of you, we have a bit of an ulterior motive for asking you all to come."

"We're getting married tomorrow." Alex told them with the biggest smile on her face.

"What?!" Kara and Lena squealed in unison.

"Alex!" Eliza softly scolded but she was beaming at the news.

Alex laughed before explaining. "We didn't want a huge fuss made. So we planned it all out and made sure you would all be available, and…"

Winn gasped and pointed an accusing finger at Alex. "That's why you had me arrange it so we were all off duty this weekend."

"And why I kept seeing you whispering with Jess." Lena said to Sam.

Suddenly J'onn laughed a deep chuckle. "And why you both suddenly had nonsense songs stuck in your heads."

"Partly." Alex replied to the mind reading martian. "Yes, we were trying to make sure you didn't pick up on any stray thoughts."

"But we also have a toddler." Sam continued. "Whose obsessed with making us sing Five Little Ducks and the Ice Cream song."

The rest of the evening was spent celebrating the couple's engagement. They showed off their rings and Alex told them how Sam had purposed. It left Lena teary and Kara couldn't stop hugging them. They'd been trying to get Sam and Alex to talk marriage for ages, and were thrilled that it was finally happening. Though they also felt a little cheated.

"You threw us such a great bachelorette party." Kara pouted. "We wanted to do the same for you two."

"You two were such a big part of our wedding." Lena continued.

"And you'll be apart of ours." Sam reassured. "We're still going to need you both to stand up for us." Sam took Lena's hand and smiled. "I want my best friend standing at my side when I promise to love Alex for always."

Lena actually looked surprised. "What about Ruby?"

"She's giving me away." Sam answered, and then rolled her eyes as she added, "She likes the idea of giving me to Alex knowing Alex will take care of me now that she has one foot out the door."

Alex was smirking but it softened when she looked at her sister. "Kara will you…"

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Kara said excitedly, so excitedly she picked her sister up off the floor as she hugged her as they floated a little few feet off the ground.

"Kara, sweetheart, if you squeeze your sister any tighter her eyes are going to bug out." Eliza teased with a loving chuckle.

"Don't drop her." Sam added with a laugh.

Kara gasped as she set Alex down. "Oh! Sorry! Sorry!"

Alex wheeze laughed. "S'ok." Once Alex could breathe again she looked over at J'onn and smiled. "I still mean every word I said to you in that conference room a lifetime ago, maybe even more so because not only have you been a father to me and Kara but your our kids grandfather, and I would still very much like it if you would walk me down the aisle."

"I would be honored, Alex." J'onn said with a nod, a loving smile, and a shimmer of tears in his eyes.

Now that their house warming party had turned into a low key bachelorette party when the night came to a close Kara and Lena insisted that they start following tradition, which meant Sam slept in the guest room with Lena while Kara slept with Alex in the master bedroom. It wasn't easy keeping the pair apart but with Eliza's help wrangling the kids they managed.

The next day Lena would helped Sam get ready following a big family brunch where Sam teased them about how it had been silly to make her and Alex sleep apart the night before since they would be spending the day together before the actual wedding. Lena just huffed at her friend and when it was time to start getting ready she pushed Sam back towards the guest room.

Sam's dress was simple but stunning. The skirt was floor length tulle over thin silk with a thin silk band at the waist. The bodice was lace with an illusion neckline that dipped a little to showed off cleavage. It was sleeveless, white, and elegant in its flowy summer style. Sam wore simple pearl earrings and left her long dark hair down in loose waves that spilled over her shoulders.

Lena loved the pale sunset pink infinity wrap dress Sam and Alex had picked out for her and Kara. It would allow each of them to wear it the way they liked so they matched but weren't identical. Lena chose to wear it like a halter dress while Kara opted for a v-neck style that matched Alex's dress.

In the guest room Kara watched her big sister with tears in her eyes. Alex was wearing a v-neck split front white chiffon dress with a crystal belt at the waist and lace accents under the skirt. Her longer than normal auburn hair was pinned back but loose. "I can't believe you're getting married." She sniffled and then threw a pillow at her sister. "And I've only known less than twenty four hours!"

Alex laughed as she picked up the pillow and threw it back. "Sorry not sorry?" She teased before walking over to hug her sister. "You understand why don't you?"

Kara nodded. She did understand because she knew her sister. "I'm just really happy you two didn't elope."

Down on the beach a simple canopy was set up and draped in white chiffon. In the middle of the canopy was a table covered in more white chiffon, and on the table were several tall glasses each filled with a different colored sand. The aisle leading to the canopy was lined with paper lanterns and sprinkled with flower petals. Benches were set up with more chiffon and pillows for the guests to sit on. It was beautiful and simple and very much Alex and Sam.

They wanted to say their vows as the sun set so the timing had to be just right. Their family gathered on the beach and while an instrumental version of Lena Lewis' Footprints in the Sand played J'onn walked Alex and Ruby walked Sam down the aisle.

Just as Lena and Kara had, Alex and Sam had asked Myr'nn to perform the ceremony. He stood with them beneath the canopy in his tan linen pants and cream colored shirt with a huge loving smile. "Alexandra and Samantha wanted to thank you all for sharing in the celebration of their commitment to one another and for your understanding of the short notice."

There were a few snorts and chuckles from their guests that just made Sam and Alex smile that much more at each other.

"As the tides ebb and flow so to do the fortunes of life. Footprints in the sand are washed away, driftwood moves on its endless quest for a peaceful harbor. Only a deep and abiding love can withstand the tides of change in two lives." Myr'nn continued. "The love of Alexandra and Samantha is enduring and profound. We gather here to witness this love and the vows they make to each other."

When he tells them too Sam and Alex take each others hands but only after Sam uses her thumb to quickly wipe at the tears in her eyes before they can fall.

"Today you join yourselves together for life, as friends and lovers, and wives. As the surface of the sea is sometimes calm and often storm tossed, so also, is a marriage. Are you both prepared and willing to see each other through the calm and the storm?"

The couple nods and replied, "We are."

Myr'nn nods and smiles. "Alexandra, repeat after me."

And she did. "I pledge to you, Samantha, that my love and my loyalty will weather the storms of life. I will always seek your counsel when I make life decisions, and will respect your needs and concerns. No matter what course we set, we will do it together."

Sam tightens her hold on Alex's hands as she repeated the words, "I pledge to you, Alexandra, that my love and my loyalty will weather the storms of life. I will always seek your counsel when I make life decisions, and will respect your needs and concerns. No matter what course we set, we will do it together."

Myr'nn moved behind the table while Sam and Alex moved closer. Ruby and Maya joined them. There were four tall glasses with sand of different colors. They each picked one up as Myr'nn said, "This sand represents the days of your life before today, as the sands are joined together so shall the days of your life be joined."

Sam poured in her own and Maya's while Alex and Ruby poured theirs at the same time. Once the glass jar was full of the layered colored sand Myr'nn corked it.

Ruby wore a simple pale blue sundress and had put her hair in a braid with flowers weaved into it. Maya had on a pretty little sunflower yellow dress which had her mothers' wedding rings pinned to the center of the sunflowers on its bodice. Before Ruby returned to her seat with Maya their moms kissed them and Maya clapped and giggled. Then Myr'nn took the rings from her dress. He handed Alex Sam's band which was white gold to match her engagement ring and had a very unique pattern etched into it, Alex's fingerprint.

Alex had to clear her throat as she slid the ring onto Sam's finger. "I Alexandra give you Samantha this ring as a symbol of my commitment to you, as powerful and endless as the sea."

Alex's band was rose gold with Sam's fingerprint etched into it. Sam smiled and her hand shook a little as she slipped it on to Alex's finger. "I Samantha give you Alexandra this ring as a symbol of my commitment to you, as powerful and endless as the sea."

"Because you, Alexandra and Samantha, have showered our hearts with expressions of your love, and promised each other the joy of all your days, by the virtue of the authority vested in me under the laws of this land it gives me great honor and pleasure to now pronounce you wife and wife." Myr'nn smiled before adding. "You may now kiss your bride."

Sam reached for her new wife's face and drew Alex in for the kiss. It was tender and full of love and when they parted they pressed their foreheads together and closed their eyes for a moment while their family cheered for their happiness.

A path lit with white paper bags with candles inside lead to the large white tent where the reception would take place. The walls of the tent were mesh so you could see inside were some tables were set up as well as a dance floor. Outside on the white sand were linen covered loveseats and armchairs and low tables. Hundreds of white fairy lights were strung from poles and large lanterns were placed all around to offer more light and ward off any uninvited bugs.

Appetizers consisted of mini crab cakes, coconut shrimp and oysters which Kara groaned playfully about. "How could you do that to me."

Alex blinked. "Do what?"

"I wanted to enjoy the whole night celebrating here with you." Kara pouted.

"And having oysters prevents that how?" Alex asked, drawing out the end of the sentence while raising an eyebrow.

"Have you ever seen Lena eat an oyster?" Kara replied.

Dinner was roast pork with lime and grilled steaks with grilled potatoes, veggies, and a rice dish on the side. The wedding cake was three layers of lemon cake with sweet berry compote, with little chocolate seashells, and sand dollar decorations and two little surfboards on top with Alex and Sam written on them.

When it was time for their first dance Kara surprised them by singing a beautiful version of I Turn to You. For the rest of the night a carefully curated playlist provided the music that was danced too, or just enjoyed from tables and chairs. Icy drinks, rum drinks, and beer were on hand all night for those old enough to drink, and when it was time for the little ones to head back to the house Eliza was more than happy to take them up so everyone could continue celebrating.

As the night grew cold they built a bonfire and stayed on the beach until the sun came up. Just before sunrise Alex and Sam slipped away to be alone. They sat side by side as close as they could get in the sand and watched as the sun inched its way into the sky. Leaning into Sam, Alex looked up at her and her eyes filled with tears at her beauty and the overwhelming feeling of love she had for this woman, her wife. "I love you, Sam."

Sam smiled softly and before leaning in to capture Alex's lips in a kiss she replied, "I love you too, Alex."


	10. Chapter 10

Their first date had been to a Japanese cafe where they had talked about how they both wanted to go to Japan someday. It was a perfect choice for a honeymoon. While they were both excited about spending ten days in Japan they were also dreading spending ten days away from their girls. Sam hadn't spent more than a weekend away from Ruby since she'd left to figure herself out after Reign, and neither of them had been away from Maya since she was born. Of course this lead to teasing from Lena and Kara as payback for Alex teasing them when they had trouble leaving Andrew for their honeymoon. It was Ruby who reminded Sam that if anything happened she could fly herself and Alex back in minutes, and if missing them got to bad she could always fly to them. The reassurance helped and Sam and Alex boarded their first class flight to Japan with hardly any tears.

Their first stop was a breathtaking room at the Palace Hotel in Tokyo. From there they would be able to explore the city, but of course they were on their honeymoon so exploring would have to wait. Sam's fingers were buried deep in Alex's hair while Alex masterfully used her mouth between Sam's legs. Sam moaned softly as she felt Alex's fingers dig into her hips while her new wife's tongue teased. She tried to buck her hips against Alex's mouth but Alex's hold was firm and Sam had to settle on bowing her back before reaching back with her free hand to grip the headboard.

It was a good thing they had a portable red sun lamp because when Alex added fingers to what she was doing Sam would have easily pulled the headboard free of the wall as her body jerked and tensed with pleasure.

Sam's plan for combating jet lag with sex worked perfectly. When morning rolled around both women felt rested and ready to go after falling asleep around midnight after spending most of their time after checking in naked and in bed. They spent their first full day exploring the city and eating as much tradisional Japanese foods as they could.

"If you keep sending food pics to your sister she's going to fly over here to eat it all herself." Sam teased as she watched Alex take a picture of her lunch. "Do you really want Kara crashing our honeymoon?"

Alex thought about it for a moment and put her phone away. "Good point. I'll find another way to get even for the honeymoon pic she sent me."

During their fourth day while on Alex's vending machine tour of the city they came across one of those little back of an ally anime shops. Alex wanted to have a look around to see if she could find something for Winn and Sam couldn't help but agree and smile. Alex's relationship with Winn was cute. He had become Alex's little brother. How could she deny her wife a chance to get her little brother something special. While Alex looked around for something for Winn, Sam browsed a table full of figurines and statues. She smiled softly at an anime version of Supergirl, she rolled her eyes at one of Astra because it was still pretty insane to think about having merchandise of herself, and then she spotted one of Superman. Winn would love it. Sam was about to call Alex over when another statue caught her attention. She gasped softly at the sharp pain in her chest.

Reaching for the statue of Reign, Sam could feel her hand tremble as her fingers wrapped around the dark figure. The mask, the Worldkiller crest on the chest, the red eyes, the hard leather sleeve around the long tight braid, it was an almost perfect replica. The physical measurements were a bit off, her chest and ass weren't nearly that big. Why? Why would anyone want something like this?

"Babe?" Alex said softly and with a little concern. She'd called out Sam's name twice but her wife hadn't responded to her. Walking up to her now she was careful not to startle her. Sam's powers were still known to go off accidentally if Sam was frightened or startled to badly. "Babe. what is… Oh." When she saw what Sam was holding Alex the statue from Sam's hand she placed it back on the table and then took her wife's hand and led her out of the shop. They walked in silence until they reached a small park. "Are you ok?"

"I don't understand why that exists." Sam said softly. "Why anyone would want her sitting on a shelf somewhere in their home."

"Same reason they want a half naked version of Supergirl or Astra on their desk." Alex replied. "It's a fantasy. Somewhere out there is someone with a kink that involves Reign."

Sam's frown deepened.

Alex spent the rest of their day out trying to lift Sam's spirits and distract her from her memories. Sam had slowly relaxed and her beautiful smile had returned, and Alex smiled when Sam laughed. She thought Sam would be alright but she should have known better when Sam willingly let Alex be the big spoon that night. Sam almost always insisted on being the big spoon.

She was pulled from sleep by the twitching and soft cries of Sam having a nightmare. Alex tightened her hold on her wife, pressing her body as close to Sam's as she could get, and began to sign softly. "I'm never gonna let you down. I'm always going to build you up. And when you're feeling lost I will always find you, love." As she sang Sam began to relax, her nightmare subsiding as Alex chased away the phantoms of her past. "You won't be alone anymore. If you need someone to believe in, if you're reaching for a hand to guide you home, just take my hand and I won't let go."

Sam slept peacefully for the rest of the night safely tucked away in her wife's arms. Any remaining dreams she had were full of Alex's soft voice.

Part of their last day in Tokyo before heading to the hot springs of Kyoto was actually spent in Nara Park with the bowing deer. Alex was trying so hard not to laugh while taking video of Sam being politely attacked by the tiny deer, and failing miserably. After leaving the park Alex continued to laugh as Sam bitched about the new holes in her favorite sweater, but Alex's joviality vanished when Sam's cell phone rang. She watched her wife's face closely as she spoke to the caller and when Sam hung up she asked, "What's wrong?"

"That was Clark." Sam said while biting her lip. "He's heading to Sri Lanka and he wants my help. It shouldn't take long."

"Did you bring your suit?" Alex asked easily.

Sam smirked as she gave her wife a knowing look. "Yes, but not for work."

Alex blushed. "Go help the big blue boy scout, babe. I'll be waiting in the hotel bar for you. We'll have one last romantic evening in the city once you return."

Sam stepped closer and wrapped her arms around Alex's neck. "Are you sure you don't mind?"

"I don't mind." Alex promised as she rested her hands on Sam's hips and pressed her forehead to her wife's. "Just be careful."

"I will." Sam said softly before kissing Alex.

It was pretty rare for Astra to work with anyone other than Supergirl. Sam wasn't a full time hero, she only helped out when needed. It was a little strange working alongside Superman, and while they worked well enough together and were able to defeat the threat, Sam had to admit she prefered Kara. She and Kara worked so naturally together that working with anyone who wasn't Kara could be a little frustrating. Kara had always treated her as an equal, even in the beginning while she was still learning. Superman tended to treat anyone not his two best friends like a rookie, not matter how long they'd been in the field.

When she returned to the hotel Sam changed into a little black dress with a black leather bodice and tight skirt that she'd bought just for the trip. She used super speed to curl her hair but used normal speed to do her makeup. She wouldn't make that mistake twice. Then she made her way down to the bar. Her beautiful wife was easy to spot with her deep red hair and the bold white and silver pattern on her dress. Sam stood back for a second to admire the woman she was lucky enough to be sharing her life with. Then she caught sight of a scowl on Alex's pretty face and Sam's eyes narrowed.

A tall blonde haired man was sitting more than a little to close. Sam zeroed in on him and listened as he tried in vein to pick up her wife. She listened to Alex turning him down. Watched as Alex showed him her wedding rings and told him she was married. He wouldn't back down. Sam growled soft and low in the back of her throat. She made her way across the room and reached Alex just as the man reached out towards her wife's hair as if to tuck it behind her ear. Sam moved faster than a human should, grabbing hold of the man's wrist in a painful grip. Just a fraction more pressure and she'd shatter his bones like crushing hollow chocolate.

"The lady didn't give you permission to touch her. I would advise you to keep you hand to yourself before someone removes it for you." She gave the man a look that made armed mercenaries and alien gang members piss themselves. Then she let go of his wrist and turned to Alex with a look that made the other woman squirm in her seat in a very a good way. "Sorry I'm late, baby."

They were normally very reserved with public displays of affection outside their home turf which is why Alex was caught off guard when Sam reached for her and pulled her into a heated kiss. There had been something in the way Sam had looked at her, the tone of her voice when she'd said she was sorry for being late, that had sent electric shocks to all the right places in Alex's body. Sam could be possessive at times and Alex loved it. When Sam released her from the kiss Alex was breathless. "Not a problem, babe."

Sam smiled and held out her hand. "Shall we go? We have a reservation at the best restaurant in the city." When Alex took her hand and stood Sam pulled her close and slid her arm around Alex's waist. "Only the best for my wife."

Before they stepped away Sam shot the man one last look and this time allowed her eyes to flash with heat vision for a split second as she said, "The next time a lady tells you she isn't interested be a gentleman and leave her alone."

Sam kept Alex close all night and when they returned to their hotel room she'd barely closed the door behind them before pulling her wife in for a slow heated kiss. She held Alex's face in her hands as she kissed her, her thumbs stroking down the line of her neck. When she pulled away from the kiss she locked eyes with her wife and when Alex bit her lip and smirked at her it drove Sam wild. She turned Alex around so she could get to the zipper at the back of her dress. She lowered the zipper slowly and gently pushed it off Alex's shoulders to let it fall and pool around her Alex's feet. Sam traced the outline of Alex's shoulders with her index finger and then trailed it down her wife's spine, making Alex shiver. Then she leaned in close and began to kiss and nip at Alex's shoulder, neck, and ear lobe while sliding her arms around her. Her left hand pressed firmly against Alex's stomach while her right cupped a warm breast.

Alex gasped and moaned in pleasure as she leaned back against Sam's body. When she felt Sam's fingers slide past the waistband of her panties she whimpered because she knew fingers just wouldn't be enough, not when Sam had been so possessive of her all night. Alex spoke barely above a whisper but she knew that her wife would hear what she'd said as clearly as if she'd said it right into her ear.

Sam stopped and pulled away from the mark she'd just left just under Alex's earlobe. She smirked and raised an eyebrow before pressing her lips to the shell of Alex's ear. "Are you sure, baby?"

"Yes." Alex replied, her voice cracking and pitching a little high from her desire. She cleared her throat and nodded. "Yes, Sammy, I'm sure. Please."

Sam smiled and turned Alex around to gently cup her face in her hands again. Leaning in she kissed her wife lovingly before saying, "Anything you want baby." She ran her thumb over Alex's bottom lip before kissing her again. "Go wait on the bed for me, love, and don't forget to turn on the lamp."

Sam's light brown eyes were locked with Alex's dark brown eyes as she gently, slowly, and purposefully rolled her hips, trusting the toy attached to the harness she wore into her wife at a madding pace. The fingers of her left hand were entwined with Alex's as if they were holding onto each other for dear life, while the other pressed against Alex's abs, helping Sam brace herself as she moved. Alex's free hand was clenched in the sheet as her own hips moved as if begging Sam's go move faster, harder. It wasn't until Alex rasped, "Sammy please." that Sam finally gave in and gave her new wife exactly what she wanted.

Just when Alex was about to cry out her bliss Sam leaned down to capture those cries of passion with a kiss. When she thought Alex was finished she brushed her lips against her wife's ear to whisper a husky, "Good girl." as she pulled the toy out. That pairing of words and movement unexpectedly set off another spark in Alex, causing her to cry out and tremble anew. Sam chuckled softly as she covered Alex's mouth with her hand. "Shhh, baby, not so loud. The patio doors are open and we don't want to disturb the neighbors."

Alex whimpered softly. The cool night air blowing gently across her overly heated overly sensitive skin as they made love had added a whole new level of sensation to the experience. As did the chance of being heard and the mix of the scent of cherry blossoms and sex. When she heard the toy and harness hit the floor with a soft thud she turned to watch as Sam slipped into bed beside her, reaching for her to pull her close. She shifted as if to move on top of Sam but her beautiful wife shook her head and pulled her in close to her body instead.

"Later baby." Sam said into Alex's ear. "Rest now."

They missed breakfast the next morning because Alex refused to let Sam out of bed before she'd left the taller woman breathless and weak as a kitten full of cream. It meant a mad dash to the train station but Sam was more than ok with that. They were taking one of the Japanese Shinkansen, one of the bullet trains, to Kyoto. It had been on their list of must dos and Sam had made sure they went first class.

"This is pretty freaking cool." Alex said as she played with the controls of her reclinable seat.

Sam nodded in agreement. "I was a little worried, but it's really comfortable."

Alex chuckled a little. "Yeah, your legs have been a little long for most of the trains we've been on so far."

"You like that my legs are so long." Sam said with a snort.

They settled in for the nearly three hour trip to Kyoto and were offered snacks before the meal was served. Sam got to have the window seat going, and Alex on the way back. As they moved through the city at what most humans would find startling speeds, Sam was able to make out the sights as they went along. The bullet trains might be the fastest mode of transportation on Earth but she could fly far faster and her sight needed to be able to keep up. Her attention was drawn from the window by the sound of her text message chime. She checked it and laughed.

"What?" Alex asked as she turned to look at her wife.

"It's from Lena." Sam told her. "Apparently Kara is yelling at Clark for interrupting our honeymoon with work."

The Ryokan they would be staying in offered a private hotspring. The place was known for its views, every room having a view of the sea of Japan, and for it's sunsets. Sam couldn't wait to sink into a hot bath with a glass of something cold and bubbly with Alex tucked into her side as they watch the beautiful sunset. With the one small exception of finding the statute of Reign and having a couple of PTSD triggered nightmares this trip had been better than Sam could have dreamed. They would certainly bring the girls here one day when Maya was old enough to fully enjoy the experience.

Alex had traveled with her parents and Kara, and she traveled for work, but nothing could compare to this trip. Nothing could even come close to the way she felt as she watched Sam sink into the hot water and close her eyes as a soft sigh of pure bliss escaped pass her slightly parted lips. How had she gotten so incredibly lucky? How had Alex Danvers, a woman her sister had often compared to Grumpy Cat, ended up married to an incredible woman like Sam Arias?

Sam smiled softly at the way Alex was looking at her. "What are you thinking right now?"

Moving across the large stone pool Alex closed the distance between them. "That I'm the luckiest person on the planet."

"I don't know about that." Sam said as she reached for Alex to pull her in for a kiss. "I think you might be the second luckiest."

They did their best to live in the moment, to savor and cherish their time together, but their time in Japan still felt as if it flew by as they made their way to the airport. As much as they had each loved the trip and their time alone they were both more than ready to head home. They missed their daughters, their home, their own bed. Alex was convinced they'd go home to find Maya was a teenager rather than the toddler they'd left in the care of Kara and Lena. Sam was convinced that Ruby had talked her aunts into letting her run off and join those teenagers in San Francisco.

Of course when they arrived at the Luthor penthouse Maya was still a bright and bubbly toddler who was overjoyed to see her mommies again, and Ruby hadn't run off to join a teenage superhero team. Their homecoming wasn't without surprises however. Sam and Alex stood side by side, Maya on Sam's hip, and stared at the ball of fluff in Ruby's arms with wide eyes and two different expressions. Sam was uncertain and Alex was on the edge of actually being giddy.

"His name is Milo." Ruby told her mothers as she held the brindle colored fluff ball of a puppy. "And he's ours."

Sam shot Lena a look that made the raven haired woman step closer to her own super powered wife. "It's a long story?"

Maya wiggled to be put down and so did Milo. Once they were both on the floor the puppy ran to the baby and Maya wrapped her arms around him. Sam couldn't bring herself to scold anyone as she watched her baby girl cuddle the ball of bridle fluff.

"This really isn't s not my fault." Ruby said with a chuckle. "Even if I have been the one asking for a puppy for like ever. Aunt Lena couldn't say no to Maya."

Lena blushed. "She fell in love with him."

"She's barely a year old!" Sam said with a huffy kind of laugh.

Alex crouched down beside their daughter and their new puppy and her face lit up as her fingers sank into the pup's soft fur.

"She looked a lot like that." Kara said brightly as she pointed at her sister who looked like she was in heaven. "It really was hard to say no."

Sam pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head with another soft chuckle. "Well, it looks like we have a dog now." Her wife and daughters cheered. "Come on, let's go home."

Home. Home with her wife, their daughters and their dog. Alex couldn't be happier.


	11. Chapter 11

Stepping off the elevator with Jess to her right and Eve to her left Lena made her way towards the ground floor conference room. She was listening to Jess update her on the meeting she was heading to while reading emails from Sam who was currently in London. They were working on a huge acquisition that would give a major boost to L-Corp's engineering division. Lena was about half way across the lobby when she heard a woman's raised voice. It was a vaguely familiar voice, one she'd only heard once or twice in the past but enough to make her frown when she heard it. Looking up from her tablet she directed her attention towards the sound. Standing near the first security desk was an older woman with short white hair, classes, and a rather severe look on her face. Lena had only ever met Patricia Arias once and that had been enough of an experience for her.

After telling Jess and Eve to wait where they were Lena walked across the lobby to the security desk. "Is there an issue, Jim?"

"Not at all, Ms. Luthor." The security guard replied.

"Ms. Luthor." Patricia said as she turned her focus on Lena. "I'm…"

"I know who you are, Mrs. Arias." Lena said, cutting the older woman off. Now that she was face to face with Patricia she could see that the woman looked a bit more frail than the last time she'd seen her. "What can I do for you?"

Patricia took an unsteady breath and said, "I need to see Samantha, please, Ms. Luthor."

"Sam isn't here." Lena replied and before Patricia could accuse of her lying she added. "She's currently out of the country working on an L-Corp project. Is there something I can help you with Mrs. Arias?"

Dropping her head Patricia sighed softly and then reached into her purse and pulled out a sealed envelope. Seeing Sam had been a long shot anyway. Sam wanted nothing to do with her and Patricia couldn't blame her. Holding out the envelope the older woman looked at Lena and asked, "Would you please give this to Samantha."

Lena accepted the envelope with Sam's full first name written across it in a shaky scrawl. Looking up to meet Patricia's eyes Lena suddenly found herself nodding. "Of course I'll pass this along to Sam."

"Thank you Ms. Luthor." Patricia replied.

Lena didn't tell Sam about Patricia's visit when she called to check in that afternoon. She figured whatever brought the elder Arias to L-Corp, whatever was written in the letter to Sam, it was personal. There had been something in Patricia's eyes that had seemed uncomfortably familiar, she just couldn't put her finger on what that was. She waited until Sam was home and had had time to spend with her family before taking the letter to her.

Sam smiled as she ushered Lena into the house. Her trip to London had been successful, and after a couple of meetings at L-Corp to get everyone update on the project Sam had been left alone with her girls for the last twenty-four hours, which meant she was in a really good mood. As she followed Lena towards the sofa she asked, "Glass of wine?"

"No thank you." Lena replied softly before stopping and turning to face Sam.

There was something in Lena's voice that caused Sam to stiffen a little, and as soon as she could look into her best friend's eyes she was flooded with concern. "Lee, what's wrong?"

Lena sighed softly before replying. "You mother came to L-Corp the other day."

Sam blinked. She couldn't have possibly heard that right. She hadn't seen or talked to her mother since Patricia had shown her her pod in the barn. That had been the first and only time Sam had seen Patricia since the woman had thrown her out. "Patricia was at L-Corp? Why?"

"She wanted to see you." Lena answered and then slipped her hand into her purse to retrieve the letter. "Or if she couldn't see you, then to leave this for you."

When Lena held the envelope with her full first name written across it in her mother's handwriting Sam took a step back from it like it were kryptonite or something. "What is it?"

"Just a letter." Lena said softly.

"What does it say?" Sam asked, her golden brown eyes flicking between the envelope and Lena's gaze.

"I don't know, Sam." Lena said as she placed the letter on the coffee table when it was clear Sam wasn't going to take it. "It's for you. I didn't read it."

Why on earth would Patricia write her a letter? Why would she show up at L-Corp to see her after all this time? What could Patricia possibly have to say to her after everything that's happened between them? Patricia wasn't the type of person to admit she was wrong or to apologize. In fact Patricia had still insisted that kicking Sam out when she got pregnant hadn't been the wrong thing to do, that she had somehow been teaching Sam a lesson. Looking at her life now, it had undoubtedly been for the best. She had two beautiful daughters, an amazing wife, and a loving and supportive family that was there for her no matter what. Alex, Kara, and Lena had chosen her, accepted her without hesitation, flaws and all. They would do absolutely anything for her and never asked for anything in return. Their love was absolutely unconditional. Patricia's had always come with expectations and limits.

"I know you're first instinct is to ignore the letter, to just toss it into the fire." Lena said gently when Sam's eyes were on her again. "But Sam, please don't. At least think about reading it first."

"Why?" Sam asked, her voice laced with the anger and hurt she was feeling. "Why should I give it, give her, any thought at all?"

"Because something in my gut is telling me you need to read it." Lena answered. "There was something off about Patricia that day, Sam, something I haven't been able to put my finger on."

"Something in your gut?" Sam repeated, an eyebrow arched. "You sound like my wife."

Lena smiled. "Your wife has pretty good instincts. Talk to Alex before you decide to do anything."

As soon as Sam heard Lena's car drive off down the street she picked up the letter and walked over to the fireplace, intent on doing just what Lena had said, burn the damn thing unopened. Then she saw her name written in Patricia's jittery handwriting. Patricia was naturally left handed but she'd grown up and was schooled during an era where being left handed was wrong, and she'd been forced to learn how to use her right. That had caused Patricia's handwriting to always look a bit off. Sighing softly Sam took the letter upstairs and dropped it into the draw of her nightstand.

It would take three days before Sam even mentions the letter to Alex.

"So you haven't read it yet?" Alex asks as she sits on the edge of their bed and looks up at Sam who's sitting cross legged in the center.

Sam shook her head. She was looking down at Milo as she ran her fingers through his soft fur. The little ball of fluff that Lena had given the girls wasn't so little anymore, but he was still fluffy and soft. "I'm not sure I want too."

"That's understandable." Alex replied gently.

"Lena thinks I should." Sam said as she looked up to meet her wife's gaze. "What do you think?"

Alex moved closer and put her hand on Sam's thigh to offer physical support. "I think it's up to you, babe. This isn't something I can tell you to do or not do. But whatever choice you make I will be right here with you, I'll support you in whatever way I can."

Sam leaned forward until her forehead was pressed against Alex's and then she closed her eyes and focused on the sound of her wife's heart beating. She loved this woman with all her heart and soul. Why should she give Patricia even a moment of thought when she knew her mother would be disgusted by her relationship and disapproving of her marriage? Patricia hadn't approved of Ruby, wouldn't approve of Maya or Alex, Sam should just burn the letter and forget about it. Forget about Patricia. But instead she puts it back in her nightstand and that's where it remained for another week.

Eliza was visiting from Midvale and they'd had a huge family dinner. Sam had spent the day watching her mother-in-law play with her grandchildren, all of them, and it touched Sam even after all this time that Eliza treated Ruby, Andrew, Alexis and Maya all the same, they were all equally her grandchildren. Sam also watched Eliza with Alex. Sam knew that Alex and her mother hadn't always had the relationship they have now, that Eliza Danvers was in no way a perfect mother. Eliza had expected a lot from Alex, and had missed seeing what her expectations were doing to her daughter. Alex spent a whole lot of years thinking she wasn't good enough, that no matter what she did or what she achieved she would just end up a disappointment to her mother. Alex had told Sam that not long after Kara had become Supergirl everything had come to a head and she and Eliza had finally had it out and from there had been able to repair their broken relationship.

Eliza loved her daughters. She loved and supported Alex, and had been willing to do whatever was needed to make things better between them. And there lay the difference. Patricia didn't love her. Or at least that's what Sam kept telling herself because it somehow made it all easier to bare. It was so much easier to distance herself from the heartache as long as Sam believed her mother didn't love her.

Sam sat on the patio sofa with Milo, a glass of wine, and the letter which she tapped the edge of against her glass. This was it. She was either going to open it or burn it in the patio fire pit. Inside the home she had made for herself she could hear the soft breaths and beating hearts of her daughters as they slept. The soft sounds of Alex cleaning up the last of dishes in the kitchen. Across town in the highest penthouse the city had to offer Kara was playing with Peanut Butter and Streaky while Lena and Eliza talked in soft tones. J'onn had gone back to the DEO. Myr'nn was home listening to a new jazz album. Winn was playing video games.

"Babe?" Alex called out with concern.

Sam jumped, which startled Milo causing him to bark at Alex. Opening her eyes Sam looked up to meet her wife's worried gaze. "Sorry. What?"

"Are you ok, Sam?" Alex asked as she shooed Milo off the sofa so she could sit beside her wife. "I said your name three times before you came back from wherever you were."

"I'm alright." Sam reassured her wife as she set her wine glass on the table. "I was just listening. Reminding myself of what I have and taking a moment to be grateful for it."

Alex put her arm around her wife and pulled Sam close into her side. They sat like that for awhile just cuddled up together watching the fire burn in the pit. When Sam finally pulled away from her Alex watched as her wife gave the envelope in her hand one finally look before turning it over and opening it.

Dear Samantha, I owe you an apology. I was an awful mother to you. You deserved so much better than what you got in me, and I am truly sorry. I wish I had been strong enough, brave enough, willing enough to see and accept the mistakes I made when it came to you, sooner. I wish I had more time to make it up to you. To earn your forgiveness. This is incredibly selfish of me, and completely unfair to you, but I don't want to leave things between us unsettled. I'm sick, Sam. Cancer. Kim Oscar brings me into the city every Wednesday for treatments and to see the doctors. I would really like to see you, Sam, but I understand if you want nothing to do with me. I didn't say it much to you when I should have, so I know you have no reason to believe me, Samantha, but I do love you, and I am so proud of you. Momma.

"Sam?" Alex said softly when her wife lowered the sheet of paper. There was a mix of anger, shock, and hurt on Sam's face that made Alex want to wrap her up and hold her until whatever was making her feel like that went away.

"She's sick." Sam said, her voice thick and cracking with emotion. Turning to look into her wife's eyes Sam could feel tears welling in her own. "Patricia, she's sick."

Alex pulled Sam into her arms and held her. "I'm so sorry, baby."

Several days later, after taking time to digest what was happening, Sam drove out to Patricia's house. Sam didn't think her adoptive mother's motives for reaching out had anything to do with Patricia trying to get anything like money out of Sam. Patricia had a lot of faults but using someone like that wasn't one of them. Waiting until she was seriously ill to reach out and try to mend fences, however, was one of her many faults. Sam had been swinging back and forth when it came to how she felt about this. She was angry as hell that it would take a cancer diagnosis for Patricia to finally admit she made mistakes when it came to her. She was also struggling with a mix of sadness and disbelief every time she thought about what this might all mean. The little girl in Sam didn't want to see her mother die, no matter how bad her relationship with Patricia was.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come in with you?" Alex asked as Sam parked the car outside her childhood home.

Sam squeezed her wife's hand which had been holding hers since they pulled out of their driveway that morning. "I need to do this on my own, baby, but thank you for coming with me."

Alex leaned over and kissed Sam's cheek. "I'll be right here if you need me. I love you."

"I love you." Sam replied and then slipped out of the car and began walking towards the front porch. This wasn't easy for her, not only because she was facing Patricia and their messed up relationship, but also because the last time she was here it had led to her becoming Reign.

As she stepped onto the front porch one of the boards creaked and Sam's mind was flooded with memories. Hearing that creak and knowing her father was home from work and rushing to the living room to see if he'd brought her a treat or stopped to get a new record or cassette to listen to after dinner. Stepping on that spot as a teenager sneaking in and hoping her mother hadn't heard it. Stepping on it the day Patricia threw her out, the creak of the board followed by the slam of the screen door. Sam had to take a deep breath before reaching for that screen door now, she needed a moment to ground herself before knocking on the door.

There wasn't a response right away so Sam knocked again and called out, "Patricia?" Reaching for the door knob it turned easily in her hand so she pushed the door open and stepped inside. "Patricia?"

From the kitchen Patricia called out, "Francis Pierce, I told you the next time I caught you in my house looking for pills, I was going to put a hole through your thieving head!"

Sam watched with a sliver of amusement as her mother came out of the kitchen cocking her shotgun which she aimed before truly seeing who was standing in her living room. "You know that won't have much of an effect on me these days."

Patricia blinked, lowered the gun, and softly whispered. "Sam."

"Hi Patricia." Sam replied. "I, um, I got your letter."

The last time Sam had been here the tension between her and her mother had been bitter and sharpe. This time the tenison was far more awkward and uncertain. They migrated back into the kitchen where Sam finished making the tea Patricia had started before Sam showed up. Patricia sat at the kitchen table watching Sam move around the room as if it hadn't been eighteen years since Sam had lived here. Sam had asked about her diagnosis and Patricia told her what the doctors had said. When she was finished, just as Sam set a cup of tea for each of them on the table, she smiled sadly and said, "I guess thirty years of your father's two packs a day habit had an effect on me too."

"Are you sure there's nothing that can be done?" Sam asked. She kept her hands wrapped around her tea cup just to give herself something to focus on, not smashing the tea cup. "Who are your doctors? Are they any good? What kind of insurance do you have these days? Are they willing to pay for the best?"

"Our family doctor retired a few years back so I've been seeing the young man who took over his practice. He sent me to a specialist in National City." Patricia answered. "I still have the same insurance covered by Daddy's pension, it's a good plan, I'm well covered."

"What about experimental treatments?" Sam bulldozed into asking next. "L-Corp has several medical research companies under its umbrella, I'm sure one of them must have a trial you can get into. I'll look into…"

"Sam." Patricia said softly as she reached out and put her hand on her daughter's. "This isn't why I reached out to you. I wasn't looking to get you to do me any favors."

Sam swallowed against a suddenly dry throat. She could not recall the last time her mother had touched her in such a soft and comforting way. Her eyes flicked down towards Patricia's hand where it rested on her own and then up to look the older woman in the eyes. "Then why did you reach out to me? Why now, Patricia?"

"I know it's selfish of me." Patricia answered. "But I didn't want to die without telling you how sorry I am for the way I treated you, for turning my back on you when you needed me the most. Oh Samantha. You are so good, so kind, you are everything I wasn't."

Sam wasn't sure what to say. Hell she wasn't even sure what to feel.

"I don't expect you to forgive me." Patricia continued. "I'm just trying my best to give you closure. I didn't want to leave you with any regrets when it came to me."

They spoke a little more but everything that needed to be said right now was already said. Patricia walked Sam to the door and thanked her for coming over. She told Sam she loved her, told her she wished she'd said it to her more, and then watched as Sam stepped off the porch and walked down the path to where her car waited. Patricia stepped back into the house and as she turned to close the door she watched a woman with short red hair in jeans and a leather jacket wrap her arms around Sam and hold her tight.

"Are you ok?" Alex asked softly as she released Sam from the hug so she could reach up and cup her face. She used her thumbs to wipe away a couple of tears and looked into Sam's eyes to see how she really was.

Sam nodded. "Ok as I can be I guess. Can we go home?"

"Of course we can babe." Alex said gently. "We can do whatever you need."

Sam spent the afternoon in Alex's arms. She skyped with Ruby under the pretense of checking in on her college freshman daughter. She played in the pool and baked cookies with Maya. And then after a long hot bath drawn for her by her beautiful wife, Sam called Lena. She asked her best friend if there was a way she could pull some strings to get Patricia into one of the many experimental trials run by the research doctors currently being funded by L-Corp. Of course Lena agreed to see what she could do.

Stepping up to the reception window Sam once again asked herself why she was there. Patricia hadn't asked her to come. She hadn't heard from her adoptive mother again despite having left her cell phone number on the memo pad on the fridge. She just knew that Patricia saw her oncologist every Wednesday. "Excuse me." She said politely to the woman behind the window. "I'm looking for Patricia Arias, I was hoping to catch her before her appointment."

The woman smiled a huge smile. "They just took your mother back to a room. Hold on a second and I'll have one of the nurses come get you so you can join her. It's really good to see you here, Ms. Arias. Having a strong support system can mean a lot."

Sam blinked, unable to hide her surprise. "You know who I am?"

"Of course I do." The woman replied. "Mrs. Arias loves showing us pictures of you and her beautiful granddaughters."

How the hell was Patricia showing people pictures of her and the girls? She's never once sent Patricia a single picture in all the years since she'd been kicked out. It wasn't until the nurse leading her through the hallways to the room were Patricia waited mentioned plant shaming and how her husband teased her about how much time and money she'd put into her own garden, that Sam realized Patricia must follow her on instagram.

Patricia was more than surprised when Sam walked into the room. When Sam said she hadn't meant to intrude Patricia said it was alright and that Sam could stay if she wanted.

"I just wanted to give you a heads up." Sam said once they were left alone in the exam room. "Lena found a treatment trial that you could join if the doctor agrees. He should be meeting with your doctor right now."

"Sam." Patricia said gently. "You didn't have to do that."

"I know." Sam replied.

It started off slowly. At first Sam would just meet Patricia at the hospital for her appointments with the doctor. Then she started sitting with Patricia during treatment. Then she started taking her out to have an early dinner to make sure Patricia was eating. She hired a nurse to look in on Patricia five days a week. She would have made it seven but Patricia asked if she could just have Sundays to herself, and every Wednesday Sam had started taking it on herself to drive out and pick Patricia up for her appointments and then bring her home.

One early morning as Patricia handed Sam a travel mug of coffee she smiled at her daughter and said, "Wouldn't it be easier for you to just fly here and drive my car then getting up at five a.m. to drive here in yours?"

Sam blinked, then stared at Patricia, coffee halfway to her lips.

"Don't look so shocked, Sam." Patricia said as she started towards the kitchen door. "I know you're Astra, I know you help Supergirl when she needs it."

Sam didn't know what to say. She did know this would mean DEO paperwork though. She sighed softly and followed Patricia out to the car. She would have to talk to Alex later.

Once they were on the road Patricia asked, "Why that name? Why Astra?"

Sam hestated in answering that but then admitted, "Astra was my Kryptonian mother's name."

Patricia inhaled sharply which caused her to cough a little. She used one of the inhalers that was apart of her treatment plan and when she could breath easily again she asked, "You've found out about her?"

"I have." Sam said with a nod.

"If you ever feel like it, I would like to know about her." Patricia said softly. "I'm assuming since you've taken her name, giving you up wasn't by choice?"

"It wasn't." Sam answered. "Maybe I'll tell you all about it sometime."

After that Sam flew to Patricia's every Wednesday morning and drove her into National City using Patrica's car. She would spend all day with her at the hospital and all evening with her at the house making sure Patricia's was comfortable and settled before flying home. Alex would be waiting for her, ready to listen if Sam needed to talk or to simply hold her if she didn't. It didn't really feel like she was getting to know Patricia all over again, but more like she was getting to know her for the first time. Patricia was strong willed, and for the first time Sam was able to take that in without the taint of their past and their broken relationship. Even with the new experimental treatment there was no guarantee that Patricia would survive, but her sheer willpower to make things right between them kept Patricia fighting.

"I like that outfit much better than all that black leather you wore as Reign." Patricia said as she watched Sam, watched Astra, land in the privacy of her backyard.

Again Sam was taken by surprise. "You know I was Reign?"

"I knew it the moment I saw that symbol on the news." Patricia answers. Then instead of handing Sam her coffee like she always did she pushed herself out of her rocking chair, with a little help from Sam, she was pretty weak these days, and said, "Help me up to your room."

Sam wasn't sure what she had been expecting, but seeing her room just as she had left it wasn't on the list. Everything was the exactly as she'd left it. Teen magazine pinups on the wall near her bed, ribbons and awards on the wall by her desk, her old stuff rabbit sitting on the shelf. Sam's heart squeezed painfully in her chest, so much so that she nearly missed what Patricia was saying.

"When you were ten years old you came down with a high fever." Patricia said softly. "It scared the hell out of your Daddy and me, especially when the doctor couldn't give us a reason for it. You spent three days in that bed in and out of what we thought were fever dreams. Then the fever just went away and you were fine. It happened again when you were thirteen, and then again when you were fifteen. Each time you would be in and out of those fever dreams, and when you were awake you'd draw, doodle on anything you could get your hands on."

Sam watched as Patricia ripped down the wallpaper to reveal the Worldkiller crest. She gasped softly and covered her mouth.

"You never remembered the image afterwards." Patricia told her. "So we just chalked it up to the fever."

"Reign was a virus." Sam said when she finally regained control of her emotions. It still wasn't easy for her to see the symbol. "A biologically engineered virus leeched onto my DNA to make me into a weapon." She thought about what Patricia was telling her and what Lena had told her about the Reign virus. "I'm guessing that each time I got that high fever it was the virus trying to emerge but realizing I wasn't physically mature yet and going dormant again. I'd have to check with Lena to make sure though."

"Is Ms. Luthor the one who saved you?" Patricia asked.

"Lena, Supergirl, Alex, Ruby…" Sam replied. "They all played a part. But yes, Lena is the one who found a way to remove the Reign virus and Supergirl destroyed it."

"Then I owe them both, I owe them all, my thanks." Patricia said softly. "For saving my little girl."

For the first time in a very long time Sam didn't stiffen up when Patricia touched her. "We should get going. We don't want to be late for your treatment. Mrs. Green will get the good treatment chair and the best donuts if we're not there first."

A business trip to Singapore would have Sam gone from National City for at least a week. When Patricia's nurse said she wouldn't be able to work the Wednesday Sam would be gone she almost thought about asking Lena if she could go instead. Then Ruby, who was home from school on break, offered to take Patricia to her appointment.

"I'm not sure, Rubes." Sam said as she looked up from making Maya's peanut butter and marshmallow fluff sandwich. "You haven't even met her yet."

"So let's fix that." Ruby said between sticky bites of her own lunch. "Mom, you've been working so hard on mending your relationship with Patricia for the last couple of months. Maybe it's finally time you two faced what finally ended you're already shaky relationship. Me."

Sam frowned. "You weren't the reason Patricia and I fell out, Ruby."

"Not totally." Ruby said. "But I was the straw that broke the camel's back, and I think that letting her face me will help you both go further along your path of healing."

Sam wasn't easily sold on the idea of Ruby meeting Patricia despite things being better between herself and her adoptive mother these days. Sam's natural instinct to protect Ruby played a part in her hestatance but so did a touch of resentment that she was still holding on to. Patricia had chosen to throw her out, to remove herself from her life as well as Ruby's. Why should she get the chance to meet her granddaughter? But Patricia had apologized, had told Sam countless times that the choices she'd made back then were mistakes and if she could do it all over again she wouldn't have kicked Sam out, she would have helped her raise Ruby.

"You're still wondering if she would have reached out if she hadn't gotten sick, aren't you?" Alex asked as she watched her wife stare at the flames from in the fire in their patio firepit.

"Kind of cynical of me, huh?" Sam replied as she shifted on the wicker sofa to snuggle closer to her wife.

Alex tightened the hold she had on Sam as she replied, "You carried around a lot of pain, anger, and resentment for a long time Sam. It's only natural for it to be hard to put down. You and Patricia have come a long way, and I'm so incredibly proud of you for working through this, but you have a long way to go too."

Sam sighed. "I know, and a part of me agrees with Ruby. This would be the next obstacle to get past. I just don't want to see her get hurt."

"Are you afraid that Patricia will reject Ruby or Maya?" Alex asked.

She had to think about it for a few moments but finally said, "No, I don't think that's it." She fell silent again as she examined her thoughts and feeling and then sighed. "I'm afraid they'll get attached only to end up losing her."

"Sam." Alex said gently as she pushed Sam back a little so she could look into her wife's beautiful golden brown eyes. "Are you afraid of letting Patricia in again because you're afraid of losing her? It's been months baby, and well, you still use her first name when you talk about her."

Sam bite her lip and after several minutes tears welled in her eyes.

Alex reached out and pulled Sam into her arms, holding her close and tight. "Oh Sam."

With the Singapore trip fast approaching Sam didn't have a lot of time to dwell on what she was going to do. After talking it out more with Alex and also with Lena and Kara, because she respected their points of view and they often helped each other see different sides to things, she decided to go ahead with this next step. Lena especially seemed invested in the out come of all this. She had given up on any kind of reconciliation between herself and Lillian, so she was kind of living vicariously through Sam and Patricia. So that morning as they waited to see Patricia's doctor Sam decided to go for it. "I was thinking, if you feel up to it that is, that maybe we'd try something a little different after your appointment today."

"Oh?" Patricia replied as she looked over at her daughter.

"I thought maybe since you don't have a treatment today you might feel up to having lunch." Sam said.

Patricia smiled. "Sam, you always take me out to lunch. You worry about me not eating right."

"You need to keep up your strength to make it easier to handle the treatments. That means eating healthy, exercise, and sleep. Don't think I don't know about you trying to bribe your nurse into letting you skip yoga, and the late nights binge watching Golden Girls and NCIS." Sam said firmy and then softened. "And as for lunch, I thought what could be different is where we go."

Patricia rolled her eyes while her daughter scolded her but couldn't hide the soft smile. "A new restaurant?"

"No." Sam said softly. She bit her lip nervously and then said. "My house." She watched the shock playout over Patricia's face as she continued. "Ruby's home from college on break and well, she'd like to meet you."

Tears welled in Patricia's eyes. "I would very much like to meet my granddaughters, but only if this is what you want, Sam."

Sam reached over to put her hand on Patricia's. "I think it's time."

Both women walked into the house as if they were expecting something to go off. Trepidation and nervousness clung to them like the lingering smell of hospital soap on their hands. Sam led the way further into her home, hanging her keys on the peg below her name on the key rack Ruby had made her last year at summer camp, and placing her purse on the island as she watched Patricia take everything in. "Can I get you coffee or tea or I think we have a fresh batch of raspberry tea and lemonade?"

"Something cool would be nice, thank you." Patricia said as she stood just at the edge of the open space of her daughter's living room. She was trying to meld the image of the teenage girl whose room was full of magazine pin up posters and awards on the walls, stuffed owls and rabbits on her shelves, books and records neatly arranged on her window nook, with the grown up tastes of a adult woman with a spouse and two children of her own. Patricia hadn't been there to see the change in Sam, to watch her and guide her as she built her own home, created a safe, warm space for her family.

"Patricia?" Sam said gently as she held a glass of tea in her hands. "Are you alright?"

Patricia smiled as best she could. This hurt more then she'd imagined it word, facing the truth about what she had missed out on in her own child's life. "I'm fine dear." She reached for the glass. "Thank you." She took a sip and then moved away from Sam, towards the fireplace where there were pictures on the mantel. "Are we the only ones here?"

Sam shook her head. "Ruby's upstairs. Alex takes Maya and our niece Alexis to a toddler tumble class on Wednesday mornings, but they'll be back in time for lunch."

The pictures on the mantel and walls told Sam's story. An old picture in a cheap frame showed a young Sam in a hospital bed holding her newborn daughter, while a newer picture in a more expensive frame showed a woman with short red hair in a hospital bed with Sam seated beside her holding a newborn, on the other side of the redhead stood Ruby and an older blonde woman who had her arm around Ruby, and a tall broad shouldered stoic looking man. On the other side of Sam stood a younger blonde woman with glasses, and Lena Luthor, each with a small child. Sam had gone from being totally alone to being surrounded by people who from the looks on their faces loved her and Ruby very much.

All she ever wanted to do was protect Sam but all ever did was make mistakes and hurt her. She had convinced herself that Sam would have a hard enough time in life because she was an alien, which they could hide, which she had hidden from Sam for so long. When it became clear Sam liked girls, that she was most likely gay, Patricia's first instinct had been to hide that too. She had tried to steer Sam away from those thoughts and feelings and it ended up driving Sam into the bed of a pickup truck with a boy who apparently had no idea what a condom was.

Setting her drink aside, Patricia reached up and picked up the white picture frame with a picture of Sam and Alex in white dresses on a beach as the sun sank behind the sea. Even in a photo she could see just how happy Sam was.

Sam wasn't sure what to say as she watched her mother take in the moments of her life on display in the pictures around her home. It wasn't ok that Patricia missed out on those moments, so she didn't want to say it was. So she just let Patricia take it all in and feel whatever it was she was feeling until she heard footsteps on the stairs.

Patricia had just put the picture back when she heard someone coming into the room. She went tense, the air catching in her lungs for a moment. Then the moment she saw the young woman, tall and slender like Sam, her hair long and dark with streaks of green and pink, her eyes the same golden brown as Sam but with flecks of green. She looked so much like Sam, like the girl Patricia had thrown out of her home, out of her life, she couldn't stop the choked sob that escaped her mouth.

As soon as Ruby saw the older woman's reaction to seeing her she went to Patricia and asked, "Are you alright?"

With her hand over her mouth to stifle any more sobs Patricia nodded and then lowered her hand to say, "You're so beautiful." She started to reach out a hand towards Ruby but stopped herself. "You look so much like your mother."

Ruby smiled reassuringly at her grandmother. "I'm really glad to finally meet you."

"You shouldn't be." Patricia replied with a shake of her head as she distanced herself from Ruby. "Not after everything I did, everything I didn't do." She looked around the room, at the pictures, at Ruby, at her daughter, and the tears just wouldn't stop as she looked into Sam's eyes. "I failed you as a mother, and I lost you, and I have lived with regret ever since. Here you are giving me a second chance… I don't deserve it, Samantha. I don't."

Sam walked over to her mother and took her hand in her own. "We can't change the past, and to be honest, I wouldn't want too. It wasn't easy, but it lead me to where I'm at now, it led me to Alex and my girls, and our life together." She looked into Patricia's tear filled eyes and truly saw a mother's remorse for the mistakes she'd made, and for the first time Sam believed it. "What's important is what we do now, what we do moving forward. We don't know how much time we have left together, Momma, lets not waste any more of it on what's out of our control."

Patricia gasped at the sound of Sam calling her momma. Pulling her hand from Sam's she reached up with shaky hands to hold her daughter's face. "I love you, Samantha. I'm so sorry for all the pain I've caused you."

"I know you are." Sam said, finally giving her mother the forgiveness she'd been holding back. "I forgive you. It's going to be ok."

Ruby smiled as she watched her mother hug her grandmother. When Patricia asked if she might have a few minutes alone Ruby showed her to the guest room, and then went to check on her mom. Sam reassured Ruby that she was alright and when she hugged her it was extra tight. "You're a really awesome mom and I love you."

"I love you too, Rubes." Sam replied.

Once Patricia had regained her composure she joined her daughter and granddaughter on the patio. While Sam made lunch on the grill, Ruby filled her in on the details of her life. She attended Stanford, was part of a team of teenage superheroes, and was dating a boy named Jaime from Texas who was also on her team. When Alex got home with Maya things became a little tense and uncomfortable for little while. Ruby did her best to ease the awkwardness, but it lingered until they were well into eating the meal.

"Goodness." Patricia said as she watched Maya inhaling bits of grilled chicken and chunks of cheese. "She eats the way you use too. Your father tried to get you to slow down once and you ended up accidentally biting him, and then looked mad about it. You look him right in the eye and said, Daddy, you not chicken, yuck."

Ruby laughed. Alex snorted.

Sam huffed. "Alien physiology, even without active powers we need more calories."

They would never be as close as they could have been. The burned bridge between them had been repaired, but it would forever bare the scars of the damage done to it. But there would be no regrets between them, and the time they spent together would be peaceful and full of good memories. The experimental treatment gave them more time together, time Patricia would have never gotten without it, but she was still old and the treatment was in no way a cure for cancer.

"What are you going to do with the house?" Alex asked as she watched Sam lock the front door of the old farmhouse where she'd grown up.

Sam didn't reply right away. She moved away from the door to the porch's edge and looked out over the yard to the big tree with the tire swing. She watched Maya as she played, switching between running around the tree and putting herself into the center of the tire to swing on her belly as if she were flying. She had action figures in each hand, Supergirl and Astra, and several others littered the dirt patch under the swing. "Maya, baby, it's time to go." Sam called out. "Make sure you have all your toys."

"Ok Mommy!" Maya called back in response.

Sam's mind flashed back to a different dark haired little girl playing on that swing.

"Sammie!" Patricia called out from the front porch. "Dinner's ready, come wash up."

"Coming Momma!" Little Sam called back. Leaping from the tire swing she ran towards the porch, crashing into her mother's legs. Looking up into her mother's face with her big brown eyes Sam smiled as she said, "I love you Momma."

Patricia returned the smile and brushed hair from Sam's eyes. "Go wash up, girl. I've made your favorite for supper."

The words had be extremely rare but Sam had realised that her mother had said I love you back in other ways. A favorite meal, a new toy for no reason, a random stop at the ice cream parlor when they probably shouldn't have spent that extra few dollars.

"Babe?" Alex said softly, coming up and putting her hand on the small of Sam's back.

Sam turned to look at her and smiled as tears welled in her dark eyes. "There are a lot of alien kids finding their way to Earth without anyone to care for them. They'll need a home, just like I did."

Alex smiled. Leaning in she kissed her wife and then said, "I think that's a great idea. I love you, Sam."

"I love you too." Sam replied to Alex just as their daughter crashed into Sam's legs. She looked down and into Maya's golden brown eyes and smiled. "I love you too Maya."

"I love you more, Mommy." Maya told Sam.

Sam picked her daughter up and tickled her. "How about we stop for ice cream?"

"Yay!" Maya replied as she threw her arms around her mother's neck.


End file.
